A/N: Wheh! Got this one out a bit quicker than the last at least. I promise, more frequent updates will be a thing. :) Life is less busy lately. Anyways, on to the chapter!
Chapter 4: Corruption
Addie saw a flash of orange disappear around a corner and called out for Lalen to catch up. The boy had traversed deep into the city, down darkened alleyways and into crevices of the city that were completely unfamiliar to the duo. She still clutched the brown rabbit securely in her arms, Lopmon hanging limp as to not give away the fact that she was indeed a live creature. Wherever he was going, he wanted Addie and Lalen to follow him, that she was sure of. Whenever the pair lost the boy's trail, or were stopped by concerned citizens questioning their frantic pace, he would always show himself far in the distance. Taunting them, saying 'Come find me'.
It was fifteen minutes into their chase when the duo reached a dead end down a secluded alleyway, nothing but brick walls, tall buildings, and garbage to greet them. They were farther from the hustle and bustle of the city than they thought, as the sounds of car horns and tires beating pavement were almost completely absent. A shiver went down Addie's spine, and the feeling that they might have done exactly as the boy had planned crept over her. He wanted them alone and away from witnesses.
"Show yourself!" Addie bellowed, startling Lalen.
"We probably just went down the wrong alley, he can't be here-"
"You two are pretty stupid, you know that?" The boy's voice echoed as he giggled.
Lopmon finally sprang from Addie's arms and took a stance in front of the two young humans, "Stay behind me."
Addie eyed Lalen's faint shadow, confirming the two glowing red eyes were still there. The boy could not know about Wizardmon, so if it came to that, they had a back up.
"Are you afraid of little kid like me?" The boy spoke once more, finally revealing himself as he leapt down from the roof onto a small awning, catching himself on the ground unstably.
He pushed back his long mane of blond hair, and revealed piercing sky-blue eyes. The small orange digivice was still strapped to his belt loop, and the tad-pole creature was now crouched beside of him, hesitance in it's eyes, but still ready to pounce all the same, "I need to be stronger."
"What do you want?"
"Your bunny needs to watch itself, I saw it talking to you while you were outside that old house. Someone might notice you're not just carrying a toy around." The boy grinned slyly.
Lopmon growled at the boy, "Are you wanting a fight little boy? Because I'll give it to you."
"Lopmon!" Addie chastised.
"My name is Bastion," The boy grinned again, "And I'm here to take you on!"
"What?" Lalen asked.
"You both have digimon partners, right? I've never met anyone else who does! Betamon and I have been fighting digimon for over a year, getting better and stronger! You being here must be for a test of my strength!"
"That's not what being partner's is about kid." Addie dismissed him.
"What else would it be about? Betamon came to me to help make me stronger, to be better, to grow up. How else can I do that without fighting?" Bastion motioned down towards the creature named Betamon.
Addie could feel Lalen's confused hesitant face at her back. He wanted to leave, she knew that and felt similar, but she also saw what he did not. The young boy in front them was afraid. Behind smirked lips, furrowed brow, and scrunched nose lingered a small voice calling out for help. His eyes were wet, hands shaking, he had no idea what he was doing or why.
"If we fight you, and win, will you help us with something?" She asked, saying every word with caution.
"Addie!? What could he help us with? Lets just go and leave him alone." Lalen tugged her wrist back.
"We can't leave him now!" Lopmon said, "He has a digimon partner."
Bastion shifted back and forth on his feet, as if contemplating Addie's offer, "Okay, but if I win the fight, you have to give me your digimon." His eyes gleamed in the shadowy alleyway.
Just as I thought, he has no idea what he is doing, "Done."
And with that, Betamon slid forward and shot the fin from it's back directly at an off guard Lopmon, hitting her hard in the face. The fin spiraled back around like a boomerang and landed perfectly in to place on Betamon's back. Lopmon recovered quickly, dashing towards the amphibian and landing a sharp jab with her ears. Rising in the air, she inhaled deeply, spraying icey mist, which Betamon narrowly dodged, tumbling upwards and slicing the rabbit hard against her stomach. The wind swept around her, Lopmon became nothing but a brown blur, slicing through the air like a tornado.
"Do it Betamon!" Bastion roared.
"Water Tower!" Betamon shouted and a blast of water burst through the ground underneath the twisting bunny, engulfing her entirely, "Electric shock!"
Sparks erupted from the fiercely focused tadpole, snapping through the air like a striking cobra. The shock was a beautiful display of white and gold light, and, perfectly timed, it struck it's target and electrified the water still surrounding the helpless Lopmon. As she fell, she let out a helpless scream, and Addie flung herself forward in terror.
"Lopmon!" She wailed, as she cradled the now defeated rabbit closely in her arms, "Are you okay?"
"Little... huff... brat... couldn't do me in... don't worry." Lopmon managed to say.
"I have to be stronger." Bastion said again, "Betamon, finish her!"
"Not so fast." Wizardmon formed slowly from Lalen's shadow. "It seems you are stronger than anticipated, child. But you will not defeat me."
Wizardmon struck his staff onto the ground and blue lighting exploded from the broken sun, sending the boy and his Betamon back, crashing into the alley wall. Shadows twisted up and wrapped themselves around the pesky duo, restraining them, "It's over. I win."
Bastion struggled against his bindings, tears began to flow from his eyes, "No! You can't win! That's not how it's supposed to happen!"
A orange light flooded the alleyway, emanating from Bastion's digivice. Addie and Lalen were blinded, but Wizardmon saw briefly as his binding shadows disappeared in the light, and the boy held it forward as it glowed even harder, hiding himself and Betamon from all view. Wizardmon dashed to the entrance of the alley, but the child and his partner were already gone.
"Do you wanna tell me what all of that was about?" Lalen snarled minutes later after the group had settled down and collect themselves, heading back towards home.
"He was scared Lalen." Addie sighed.
"So the best course of action to help a scared child is to fight them?"
"You didn't see what was in his eyes, did you?" She glanced over to her companion, "Talking to him wasn't going to do him any good. He wasn't just scared, he was determined. I thought if we went along with what he wanted, we could get him to talk to us, we could help him, and he could help us."
"Help us how?"
"We found another partnered human! That was obviously not just some coincidence, something bigger is going on here. We could find out what he knows, how he got his digivice. Who knows, he could have been a lot of help in closing the portals, or maybe finding an alternative. There is a whole world of reasons as to why we might need him. But no matter what, we were going to have to impress him to win his favor. It was plastered all over his face." Addie shook her head, "I don't understand why it didn't work."
"His embarrassment and anger at losing were stronger than his will to know those who could best him." Wizardmon mused from the shadows, "He was a tough one, for a human so young. I think I like that child."
"Oh, imagine that, a human you like." Lalen gritted his teeth.
"I don't entirely dislike you either, but I do dislike being tied to a lesser being." Wizardmon hissed.
"Stop it you two." Lopmon moaned, still floppy and exhausted in Addie's arms.
"I'm sorry." Lalen managed to look embarrassed, "And I'm sorry for getting fussy with you Addie. Next time try to cue me in a little though, okay?"
"Just trust in me." She smiled and clapped Lalen on his back.
It was half an hour later when they tiredly found themselves in Addie's room, which had become almost like a command station for their endeavors, since her father wasn't around often. Lopmon finally freed herself from Addie's grip and slouched down in a chair, breathing heavily from the previous battles injuries. Wizardmon brought her food and water, and attempted to smile indearingly. He watched as Lalen strode over to the laptop lying precariously on the frumpily made bed, and boot it up. Within seconds Leda emerged from the computer screen, and made her self cozy by perching on the window sill opposite of the group. They filled her in on everything that had happened in the last hour.
"Another partnered boy? I'll have to check in with Abbel, he never mentioned other chosen children."
"You can reach our world?" Wizardmon gasped.
"I have a direct messaging connection with Abbel only, and it's not very stable. I've only managed to reach him once to update about the happenings here." Leda admitted, "Anyways, my attentions are on this third partnered human."
"You mean fourth." Lalen corrected her.
"Fourth?"
"Well, Cyprus has to be partnered to a digimon, right? The talks of him and his battle machine can only mean that he has a partner like us."
"The vigilante? Why didn't you mention your thoughts about this before?" Leda scolded him.
"I assumed it was obvious."
Leda eyed him studiously, "Either way, we should keep an eye on him."
"Didn't your master say that it all rested on two people, Lalen and myself? Why would there be other chosen humans?" Addie asked.
"He said the fate of the two worlds would rest on two human's shoulders. Being partnered or not was never apart of the equation." Wizardmon reminded her.
The room was quiet for a long moment, and then Lopmon said, "I wonder how many other people are out there with a partner? How many people are confused and scared and desperate?"
The room fell into silence once more.
The school bell rung out over the campus, signaling that it was time for lunch. Drones of students shuffled excitedly out of their desks and towards the first building, ready to leave school work behind them for half an hour to enjoy friends and food. Lalen leaned down to grab his backpack and cursed as it fell over and spilled out it's contents all over the floor. He muttered an apology to his teacher, who sighed and filed out behind the last student, eager to eat lunch himself. As he stooped down to gather his belongings, he felt an eerie presence lingering behind his back, he jolted his head towards the large open window and saw a flash of red hair dart out of sight. He didn't have long to question what he saw, as three people stepped into his classroom.
"It's been a while, Palmer." Dirk cracked his knuckles.
Lalen snapped up and around to stare his bully straight in the eye, he wasn't sure if it was his new found strength from fighting with Wizardmon, or his frustration with being late to lunch, but he finally retorted to his tormentor, "Not long enough Derick."
He watched Cress's face droop behind his older brother, and Sun just stared in indifference, Dirk said "Don't call me that you little wuss, you're asking for it! I know you can't do anything to me. Not after you went to juvie two years ago, you wanna go back?"
Lalen felt his temper flare up, "Why do you pick on me, Derick? Is it because you have a bad home life, are you lonely? You're a smart guy, you have some of the highest grades in our class. Do you need to punch someone to feel alive, more than just some useless brain who's entire purpose in life is to carry on Daddy's lega-"
Lalen felt his jaw pop as Dirk connected his fist in a unnecessary fury. He fell back and toppled over onto a desk, his bag spilling once more, scattering it's items across the floor.
"Hey, what's that?" Sun piped up, gesturing towards Lalen's digivice.
"Don't touch that!" Lalen snapped, rubbing his jaw trying to numb the pain. He reached down and snatched up the yellow digivice before Dirk could even bend forward.
"Give it to me Palmer, don't make me hit you again."
Dirk pulled Lalen's hand forward and tried to pry his fingers open, the digivice began to give off a faint glow as Lalen struggled to keep his grip. Dirk lurched his head forward, attempting to headbutt Lalen, but the smaller boy wrenched his arm free with a scream, and the light from his digivice glowed brightly for a moment, and suddenly he was no longer holding the triangular device from before, but a long and narrow sword.
"It transformed! I saw it!" Dirk yelped, backing away in fear.
"No... no... it was a trick!" Lalen stammered, stupidly trying to hide the sword behind his back.
"L-let's get out of here!" Dirk grabbed Cress by his collar and ran out the door, Sun following in their footstep. The curly black haired girl gave a sharp glare in Lalen's direction, and then disappeared around the corner after her friends.
Minutes later, an out of breath Lalen finally had found Addie mingling with an entangled Riley and Charlie outside of the cafeteria.
"Took you long enough." Riley grinned. "Hey, what happened to your face?"
Lalen imagined he must have had a bright red mark where Dirk had punched him earlier. He shook his head and explained that he fell on his way here and had to collect his things.
"Ahh, sucks man. Well don't forget you said you'd come over to my place for games tonight, after you get coffee with that girl."
Lalen waved off his comment as he grabbed Addie's arm and held her back as the other two stepped inside to grab food. He whispered everything that had actually just happened in her ear.
"And it just turned back after they left?" She asked, mouth open in shock.
"Yeah! What do you think that was?"
"It must be some sort of defense mechanism for us, in case we don't have our partners around. So we can defend ourselves."
"I wonder what yours is?" Lalen asked, curious.
"We will have to find out later, come on I'm starving." She said.
"What about Dirk and his goons? What if they tell someone?" Lalen panicked.
"Then they'll have to explain just exactly what provoked you, wouldn't they? I wouldn't worry about it. No one would believe them anyways."
But Lalen did worry, and as he followed Addie inside the cafeteria, he couldn't help but feel like something terrible was about to happen.
The blonde haired boy had finally made it home after a long walk from school. He could see the city illuminated far out on the outskirts of the country side. The suns final rays of the day shimmering off the the tall buildings and reflecting hazy mirages on to the pink sky. He turned his eyes towards home. The old farm house he called home was barely recognizable as the shack it was when his grandfather grew up in it. The roof now rose up above the trees, red and white tile formed flowery patterns on the path leading up to the brass gate. Vines and weeds had tangled their way around the bars now, and Bastion preferred it that way. It felt like nature was reclaiming itself after all this time.
The garden walk was always pleasant for him, and he looked down at the tiny pools of water nestled in the grassy knolls as he closed the gate behind himself. Locke would still be at work, and his grandfather had been gone for over a year, so he wasn't surprised to find the house empty when he pushed open the stained oak front door. Betamon fell from his arms clumsily and puttered off to find food. The boy wiped his eyes and sighed. The farmhouse was isolated and away from everything. The nearest house was two miles away, his school was four, and the city was over fifteen. He felt truly alone.
He couldn't cry though, not again, not like he did yesterday. He had to prove to his brother that he could handle things, that everything was going to be okay, even if grandpa did leave. They could work things out together. Betamon found his way back with a mouth full of bread, and they both fell exhaustively on the spacious leather couch in the entry way.
"You don't have to try and be so strong, that's why I'm here." The tadpole creature assured the boy.
"You aren't here to take away my responsibilities." Bastion said quietly.
The digimon resigned himself, not wanting to argue what they had already argued so many times before. Bastion halfheartedly pushed him away with his foot, and balled himself up of the couch.
Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.
"I'm glad you guys could make it!" Mari beamed, as she greeted Rupert and Lalen with open arms.
"Yeah, Fiona and Quinn send their regrets, Risa wouldn't let us all have an afternoon off." Rupert said as he folded his jacket of the top of chair and sat gracefully down at the cozy table in the warm coffee shop. Lalen noticed just how perfectly he went about, every movement precisely predetermined and calculated, even when doing something simple as sitting down. He knew how to hold himself.
"Quinn turned me down anyways, she wanted me to spar with her instead." Mari chuckled to herself.
"That girl has two mind sets; studying, and fighting." Lalen rolled his eyes, "But thanks for setting this up! It's about time we got outside of the shop to hang out."
Minutes later warm refreshing coffee was nestled in their hands, Lalen sipped his cautiously as to not burn his mouth. Having just had the weirdest experience the previous day being downtown, his guard was up more than usual. Weeks of portal hunting had already begun to change him, it almost felt abnormal to be in the heart of the bustling city without a goal. His muscles ached, crying for a soft bed, he was always tired lately, and the effects of the coffee were most welcomed. He was vaguely aware of the conversation passing between Rupert and Mari, only the quest he had sought out was on his mind now. Two, three, four portals down already. Albeit, even Leda said they were small and probably harmless, but it was still an accomplishment. Leda had said that she could feel something big hidden in the city, something much lager than any portal they had come across. Her hunch was that it was the main gate that was open between their worlds, but for some reason she was unable to determine it's location. The construction they had started on, blocking off a considerable part of the city two weeks ago, was seeming to be more and more likely as the place it could be hidden. But that area was guarded closely by a small army of special police, and was almost impossible to penetrate. He wondered if the two were connected...
"Lalen...LALEN!" Mari snapped her fingers, bringing Lalen back into the living world.
"I'm sorry, I was somewhere else." Lalen shook his head and collected himself.
"I asked how you liked working for Risa?" She cocked her head sideways.
"Oh! It's nice."
"Just nice? Come oooooon Lalen, where's your head today?" Mari scrunched up her nose playfully.
"Are you sure that's conduct becoming of a lady of your stature?" Lalen grinned slyly.
"Oh shut up." She rolled her eyes, "What would you know about someone of my stature anyways, peasant?"
"Fine, it's nice AND fun, does that satisfy your curiosity?" Lalen said, slightly more aggravated than he meant to. Mari's face scrunched up for real this time.
"He's just distracted today, Mari. He's obviously got something on his mind. You're fine, right Lalen?" Rupert spoke up, giving Lalen that thoughtful stare that sent shivers down his spine.
"Y-yeah. I'm sorry, I've got a lot going on lately." Maybe I have bitten off more than I can chew.
"No worries!" Mari snapped right back into her usual cheery demeanor.
"I'm more worried about Risa. She hasn't been herself lately..." Lalen mused, remembering finding the older woman crying to herself in the break room the week prior.
"Oh... that, she'll be fine soon... don't think about it too much." Rupert almost whispered.
"Why? Is there something going on?" Mari asked curiously.
"It's just a difficult time of year for her. Risa has raised me since I was a very young boy. She's the only family I have left, and while it hasn't always been easy, because of how she is, I have always been loved. I was never in short supply of that. If she wants you to know, you'll know. It's not my place to tell you." Rupert smiled sadly, remembering things that Lalen could not see, and for the first time since he had met either of them, he understood just how much they meant to each other.
Lalen glanced over at Mari who was nodding without really understanding, and watched as her eyes easily left their glassy state, and her mouth twitched back into a relaxed smile, the default emotion she so easily fell in to. Her quick wit and love of learning had tricked Lalen into seeing someone who was not there, and he suddenly realized how young Mari was. He broke his steadily creepy stare and glanced down at his phone, how did an hour already pass by?
"Oh crap! Sorry you two, I promised to meet Riley ten minutes ago." He hastily gathered his belongings and slapped on his coat, and barely managed to wave a courteous goodbye at the duo before bolting out the front door in the direction of Riley's house.
If he biked fast he could be there if fifteen minutes, Riley wouldn't care if he was a little late as long as he made it. He peddled hard, the bike underneath him gliding along the pavement with ease. Left, left, straight, right, left. He knew the streets well after his constant excursions in his youth. He eyed a shortcut down an alley, it'd take two minutes off his biking time, he skidded his wheels and entered.
"Not so fast!" A small voice rung out.
Lalen turned his head to see the young boy from yesterday blocking the way he had just come through. He turned forward, meaning to simply ignore the pest and carry on toward's Riley's house, but the way out was blocked by the small creature known as Betamon.
"Do it, Betamon!" The boy yelled.
A wall of water erupted on either side of the alleyway, blocking off entrance on either side. Lalen cursed the boy's idiocy, what if someone saw the water? He was being reckless.
"What do you want? He spat through clenched teeth.
"I want a rematch! I know I can beat you this time."
"Listen, Kid, I don't have time for this. Addie might have wanted to be nice to you, but I don't care either way." Lalen hopped off his bike and glared towards Bastion. "Wizardmon!"
The shadowed mage emerged from the darkness, it's glowing red eyes piercing in the black, "Finally, I've be so bored."
"Now, I can either beat you again, and you can go home defeated, or we can both part ways right now and no one needs to get hurt." Lalen weighed the options in front of the child, hoping he didn't make things more difficult.
"You've got quite a temper, don't you?" Bastion sneered, " I'm not afraid of you! Betamon, attack!"
Lalen habitually grabbed the digivice in his coat pocket out of frustration, pulling it out and shouting, "Take care of this fast, Wizardmon!"
Suddenly the same strange light from before erupted from his palm, and the digivice turned once more into the long and slender sword. The hilt was a mustard yellow, and a dark purple fabric was tied along the base, fluttering in the wind. A strange symbol like two connected circles adorned the fabric. The young boy's eyes grew huge at the sight of the sword, and Bastion instinctively took a step back in fear.
"W-what did you do?" He stuttered.
What is happening? I'm NOT about to use a sword to scare a child. Lalen thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Wizardmon used the confusion to sneak up behind Betamon, and suddenly the tadpole creature was tied up in shadow, unable to move. The walls of water evaporated instantly.
"I win." Lalen said, trying to sound more calm than he was. "Go home, Bastion."
"...No! Not again! I had a plan, you ruined EVERYTHING." Tears began to fill Bastion's eyes.
The boy ran forward, anger and frustration fueling his every move, his fist raised ready to strike. Lalen let the sword clatter to the ground, the sharp metal turning instantly back into the triangular device. He caught the boy tightly in his arms, and restrained him from fighting back. Pity was all he could feel as the boy began to cry fiercely into Lalen's shirt, unclenching his fist and wrapping his arms tenderly around the older boy.
"It's going to be okay..." Lalen said, unsure how to console him.
The boy looked up and, as if suddenly remembering what he was doing, he backed out of Lalen's embrace and grabbed Betamon up in his arms.
"This isn't over, Lalen." He mustered, before running around the corner, and disappearing once again.
"I feel like it's been forever!" Charlie exclaimed as she slapped Addie on the back.
The two girls were lazily listening to music in Addie's bedroom, and Charlie eyes the suspiciously realistic rabbit doll sitting on her friends messy computer desk. "I've been kinda busy I guess!"
"Me too, don't worry about it. I've had Riley to keep me company, if you know what I mean." She winked.
"Ugh, gross." Addie threw a pillow and hit her in the face.
"Hey, watch the nose, okay?" Charlie laughed, "I was joking. Anyways, Riley is taking things harder than I am. Not for sure, but I don't think Riley and Lalen have many friends besides each other. Riley's a bit annoyed that Lalen isn't making enough time to properly spend time with his old buddy."
"What do you mean, Riley is on all the sports teams, he has loads of friends." Addie rolled her eyes.
"He has people he talks to, but not any real friends, you know?" Charlie looked off into the distance.
"They'll be fine!" Addie shrugged it off, too worried about other things to think about something so silly. She tried to change the subject, "How's your mom been?"
"Ugggh, insufferable." Charlie sighed, "She's up for a promotion, which is great, but her boss wants to do meetings with her at home and she is being a dragon lady. Clean this, don't touch that, be on your best behavior. Dad has barely managed to keep up with her demands. She wants us to seem like the perfect family. We already have two housekeepers, I don't know why she keeps insisting that I clean the bathrooms."
Addie felt a twinge of jealousy, "She just wants things to go smoothly, you know. It's important to her."
"And being lazy is important to me. Sheesh, I know it's all for the best, but if she tells me that my dress is too wrinkled one more time I'm going to slap her!"
Addie slouched down and could feel herself drifting from Charlie's complaints, "You're lucky Addie..." she perked up at her name.
"...You have it so easy, no one to tell you what to do or what to clean, you should trade places with me so I can go back to not worrying about what crazy thing my mom is going to make me do tod-"
Addie slapped Charlie sharply across the face. The room grew quiet, a growing tension moved between the girls, Charlie grasped the red mark growing slowly on her pink skin, "Well, that was dramatic."
"Ch-Charlie, I am so sorry." Addie collected herself, "I don't know what got into me."
"It's okay, that was my fault, I was ranting and not even thinking about what was coming out of my mouth."
"No, don't. This is my fault, I always get so worked up about my mom. I can't believe I slapped you." Addie hugged her friend tight.
"I know you've got it hard girl, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Come on, let's put on a movie, forget about it and relax." Charlie gave her a sincere smile and got up to choose a movie.
Addie curled up on her bed and tried to put on the most casual face she could. Her thoughts drifted to the small memories of her mother she could muster. Hospital beds, wheelchairs, oxygen tanks. None of the pieces remained of when she was healthy, and now even her face was blurry and distorted when Addie tried to remember. No, she thought to herself. Don't think about that, you're in a good place right now. And Addie wiped away the budding tears, and joined Charlie in the latest gossip about school, only half pretending to care. Things were looking up, she knew it, and she finally had something worth fighting for.
Lalen made it to Riley's house over an hour late. His palms were clammy and beads of sweat dripped off his hair as he rang the doorbell. He had chased after Bastion for some time before giving up on the boy. Only after did he remember that he left his digivice and bike in the old alleyway, and breathed a sigh of relief when he returned to find them both still there. His hands twitch nervously as he waited for someone to answer the door. He really hoped that Riley wouldn't be too peeved about how late he was, and when the door opened with a large creak, his fears were confirmed.
"I was starting to think you had forgot." Riley said deadpan. Lalen was unable to catch any sarcasm in his voice.
"I'm really sorry man, I got tied up." He couldn't think of an excuse quick enough.
"Mom already made dinner, she didn't think you were coming so a plate wasn't set for you." Lalen took this as a cue that Riley wasn't going to invite him inside.
"Coffee went longer than expected, I tried to escape but they wouldn't let me. How about we do games and stuff tomorrow night then? My place? I'll get my mom to make lasagna, your favorite. A treat for how crappily I messed up today, huh?" Lalen could see Riley's monotone mask beginning to crack, as his lips twitched into a smile.
"Fine. But I want three helpings no questions asked, okay?" Riley punched him in the shoulder, "You gotta get your shit together man, third time you've bailed in two weeks."
"I know, I'm sorry. I think starting a job has screwed up my schedule, I'll work it out." Lalen gave Riley a quick hug and turned to leave, "See you tomorrow!"
Riley closed the door behind him, and minutes later after Lalen had finally cooled down from his frantic bike ride, did he feel that things went much better than they could have. He peddled slowly home, his house only a few streets away, and let his body relax for the first time all day.
He grabbed his keys from his pocket a short while later, they went into the lock with ease, and the door opened silently as Lalen was greeted with an empty living room. It felt good to be home after such a long day, and since he was so busy hunting and working, he had seen much less of his house than usual. He closed the door and threw his coat on the rack lazily, his foot almost touched the stairs to his bedroom when he heard a voice. How familiar, he thought to himself as he froze, contemplating whether or not his mom would be home from work yet. The voice was louder the next time, and he confirmed that it was coming from the den. He took off his shoes, and quietly sneaked his way to the back of the house, avoiding the creaky floor boards he knew all to well from his rougher youth days. His heart skipped a beat, and then slowed to it's usual pace when he heard his mom's voice coming from the other side of the door. He had gotten all worked up for nothing.
"...No I don't think I'm being unfair, Adam."
Lalen stood frozen once again, he leaned his ear closer to the door.
"He is NOT your son, not anymore." He could hear his mom hiss.
"...Do it then! You haven't been around for the last eight years, do you think he would even want to see you?"
"...Please just leave us alone..."
Lalen heard his mother crying, and visions of the past dance before his eyes. She used to always cry. He hung his head, turned away from the den's door, and trudged up the steps to his bedroom to be by himself. Today had been a weird day.
The morning sun gleamed against the green hues of the grass, almost turning their color gold in the dewy light. Bastion stood his ground in the muddy field outside of his house, shouting orders at the hungry Betamon. His brother had already left for his Saturday morning shift, and Bastion was determined to be stronger, to make Betamon meet his fullest potential. His orange digivice was clutched angrily in his little fist. His eyes met the horizon and the city he grew to hate lay at the other side miles away before him. He had to be stronger for his brother, for Betamon, for himself.
"Again!" He barked, forcing Betamon to perform the ritual exercise once more.
The tadpole pushed past his breaking point to please his master. He was just as determined to grow and be better, but he knew that this wasn't the way. But Bastion had the digivice, and, so he assumed, Bastion called the shots.
"Again!"
The boy saw the shadowy creature in his dreams the night before, the anger pulsed through his body. He had been weak in front of both of them, what would happen if he couldn't prove himself? The mage had beat him twice, and now all he could do was think of better ways to improve.
Grandpa. Brother. Betamon. I'll show you all.
"Again! Evolve!" He shouted.
And suddenly, his mind lost in meaningless thoughts of strength, the hate overshadowing his truer, good nature, a dark light erupted from his device. The wind picked up menacingly, swirling around Betamon, picking up grass and dirt and dust. Bastion covered his eyes, and backed away from the forming cylinder. The dark light engulfed Betamon fully, his form began to change and distort. Just as quickly as it started, the wind and light abruptly ended, and Bastion gasped as he dropped his arm and saw the creature that now stood before him. A flesh-less serpent towered over the boy, fire and ice waving from the top of it's head. A metal helmet covered it's face from the flames, and sharp rows of teeth jutted out from underneath it. It let out a deafening roar, before slithering towards the horizon, and lashing out it's tail at the ground. Bastion was rooted in fear, his brain unable to comprehend what his eyes were seeing. The small creature he had grown to love and care for had changed in an instant to an otherworldly, terrible, monster.
What have I done?
A/N: One more chapter down! Things are starting to get really good, eh? I'm really excited to finally get into the thick of things. Please leave some reviews if you took a read! It always helps me want to write more. Criticism is also welcome, just keep it civil! :D More to come soon.
