Hey all, long time no see!

Allow me to provide a brief explanation regarding this chapter. More specifically, why it took me a month to update.

The reason is because of my three week vacation to France. If it would've been better for my sanity to stay at home is debatable, but the point is - those three weeks drained me of inspiration, and now that I'm finally back home, I hope I can increase my writing speed.

I apologize for how long this chapter took, and I hope I can have the next one done sooner.

I would also like to take a brief moment to thank fellow writer TheLilyoftheValley for her, as she beta-read the chapter. Check out her stuff if you haven't already, because she's an amazing, amazing writer.

Alright, now let's reply to the reviews!


bajy: "Totally worth the long wait
was not expecting this
this chapter was good!
you did very well on this chapter!
Being an adventurer myself I think I too would be pretty miffed if I got a broken leg and could not do much for some time, though even I know that I'd have to let my leg get healed and wait patiently or otherwise I'd end up making it worse.
What will happen next?
looking forward to reading more soon!
"
Thank you! I'm glad to see you're still enjoying this despite all of the long waits. Being unable to explore as much as he wants to is definitely a bummer for Kaden, but thankfully he has a loving family to help him through it all. Anyhow, thank you once again for reading and reviewing, and I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter just as much.

jozs001: "This is a really amazing story so far and I love it even more for the human OC. There is literally no good story of a Lombax/Human OC. Continue please and I'm really interested how these two turn out when they are older... BUT! You are not forgetting Clank are you?"
Uuh... this story is not going to be Lombax/Human OC. The Human OC is male, and neither he nor Kaden are homosexual (otherwise Ratchet wouldn't exist). I hope this didn't turn you away from the story, and that you'll keep reading it anyway. You might be positively surprised with what I have in store for that Human OC...
I definitely have some interesting ideas for how they'll grow up, and no, Ratchet isn't complete without Clank! Do expect everyone's favorite warbot defect to make an appearance later in the story. Thank you for taking the time to review, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones.

Max Chronicle: "Simon has arrived. *Salutes*
Starlights... be ready for an adventure like you would never believe, one full of action, heroics, a changed future, and family togetherness.
I'll be back for more. Keep up the good work, Guardian.
Max out.
"
Hey again Max! Yeah, I definitely have some stuff in store for that poor boy... anyhow, apologies for making you wait for so long, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones.

TheLilyoftheValley: "I'm still really bad at keeping up with giving reviews on time... -_-

Nonetheless, this was a pretty great chapter since it took a break from telling stories of Kaden growing up and focusing on the arrival of a new character. It was nice to take a moment and spend it in the present where we get an answer to that cliffhanger from the last chapter.

Speaking of which, this is the first time I'm meeting your OCs inside a story (not counting "The Second Great War" of course)! :) I really like what I see with Simon so far, and I can't wait to see what kind of part he plays in the story!

One thing I really liked about this chapter was the first developments of the relationship between Kaden and Simon. I love how they interact together, and I can't wait to see them grow up together. I just love the scene where Kaden volunteers to watch over Simon, and I just... I can't wait to see how this all plays out.

Hm... speaking of more characters, I've been wondering... Are we going to see a certain white and red-striped Lombax soon? I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens in the coming chapters.

Great job on this chapter! Keep up the awesome work! :)"
Hey, that's okay - I'm still really bad at updating on time. XD
Yeah, I want to balance out the chapters where we focus on past and present, I want the story to be told partially in a third-person fashion, and partially in the form of flashbacks, or journal entries, or the like. Speaking of my Original Characters, I wonder what you'll think of my OC a few chapters later, and the relationship he has with Kaden.
Is that a nod to Alister? If so, he was a good childhood friend of Kaden. Can't leave him out, now can I?


The next day, Michael and Kaden went to a nearby store for tools and materials to fix the shattered windows. Kaden had asked for Simon to join him, but Simon was still a bit too afraid to interact with other Lombaxes. It disheartened Michael and Alexis that Simon was only comfortable around Kaden, but, they reminded themselves, at least it was something. If they were going to look after this mysterious child for a while then at least they had to be able to communicate with him.

"Daddy?" Kaden asked as they flew through Kilia City's center.

"Yes, kiddo?" Michael replied as he skillfully followed the other ships through the designated air traffic lanes.

"Can Simon stay?"

"Uh... that depends. If he's gonna stay afraid of us, then no. We can't look after a boy that is too afraid to even be near us without being comfortable."

Kaden nodded, staring out the window. "How long until I can finally get out of that stupid wheelchair?" he asked, although it was more talking to himself than a true question. Michael answered it regardless. "Only five more days, Kaden. After that, only one more month with crutches."

Kaden let out a groan of frustration and let his head rest against the windshield. "I hate this."

Michael smiled and ran a hand through his son's headfur. "Chin up, Kaden. You know what they say about heroes. And you want to be a hero, right? Like the ones in your mother's bedtime stories?"

Kaden nodded, a smile forming on his face as his father's words gave him determination. "Lombaxes don't run, and neither do heroes… I gotta stay strong."

Soon enough, Michael left the air traffic lanes and lowered the spaceship to the large store that was their destination.

The exterior of the building was a mixture of bricks and metal, giving the store a rather industrial look, which was not misplaced considering it was a store specialized in construction. For both professional carpenters and hobbyist engineers, it was a truly marvelous place, selling various kinds of materials. All kinds of woods, metals, stones and other building materials lined the shelves, and hundreds of different appliances stood tall on their displays. A rainbow of paint samples stretched from ceiling to floor with almost every color of paint color imaginable. The store sold everything, from regular hand tools to light fixtures to thumbtacks. In this case, glass was their target, as well as some strong glue.

After opening up the windshield, Michael took Kaden's wheelchair from the storage space before deploying it on the ground next to the ship. Once Kaden was in his wheelchair, Michael locked the ship, and began to roll his son to the sliding doors that marked the store's entrance.

"Whoooaaa..." Kaden whispered once they were inside. His eyes always roamed around in wonder, but in a store that fueled his creativity to new heights, his mind was constantly piecing the planks and sheets of metal together to form contraptions that, at least to him, seemed quite complex. Like his own toaster! A metal box with a blowtorch taped under it, along with a wooden framework to support it counted as a toaster, right?

Meanwhile Michael's eyes darted from sign to sign, until they settled on the one reading 'glassworks'.

Suddenly, or at least to Kaden, they made a turn left. "Aww, I wanna go check out the metal section!" Kaden whined.

Micheal laughed. "Maybe later, kiddo."

"What're we gonna get anyways?"

"Your friend Simon unfortunately shattered a few windows during his rough landing, and those need to be fixed. It's late summer Kaden, unless you want to get harassed by mosquitoes we need to patch that window. And that's why we're here."

"But I wanna look at the metal section..." Kaden said, ears lowering a little.

Michael pet his son on the head with a laugh. "Cheer up, Kay. I'm certain you'll love what we're here for."

Soon enough they reached a short waiting line in front of a rather large machine, one that immediately caught and held Kaden's interest. The young Lombax had no trouble with waiting as his eyes carefully took in and inspected every little detail, while Michael took the five minute wait to figure out possible causes for the problems that the LOD system of his game was having.

"Erm, Sir?" A voice spoke, awaking Michael from his train of thought. "It's your turn."

"U-oh, excuse me," Michael said with a laugh before walking to the control panel and entering some numbers.

"What're you doing, daddy?" Kaden asked.

"This thing, young one, is an advanced 3D printer. I just have to enter the requested dimensions and this thing will fabricate the windows we need, exactly at the right size."

"Woooow..." Kaden said, eyes wide with wonder as his father punched the measurements into the panel for the machine.

"Indeed, kiddo," Michael said before pulling the lever that activated the device. The machine whirred to life instantly, and a slight buzzing sound emitted from the machine as it began to print out the order. Soon enough the glass plates came rolling out, and the moment after it was finished, the machine ejected the printed copy of the order from a small slot near the panel.

Michael handed some of the plates to Kaden who, being in a wheelchair, had no trouble with them, while carrying some under one arm.

After paying for the glass, they made their way back to their ship. The wind picked up as they loaded the glass into the cargo space of their ship, and it had grown to storm level when Michael hastily helped Kaden get in before throwing the wheelchair on one of the back seats, getting in himself, and securing the windshield.

Not long after the engines of their ship roared to life, and soon enough the ship took off, like a majestic, metal bird, into the turbulent skies of Fastoon.

The ship shuddered as it battled the wind for domination, and Michael gritted his teeth. "You may want to hold on to something, kiddo. This may get-"

The ship shuddered heavily. "Annoying," Michael finished.

Kaden nodded and held onto his seat for dear life.

The ship rattled and shook as the wind tried so hard to knock it out of balance, but it wouldn't give in.

Kaden shuddered. "How long is this going to last?"

"Just one more minute. We're almost at the inner city, which has a current locker. Means that the winds are slowed down by a special barrier for optimal air traffic. There, that large, holographical gate is our target."

Kaden nodded, gritting his teeth as the ship shuddered even more heavily. "Daddy, this isn't fun!"

"I know, kiddo. I know."

Thankfully Michael's estimation had been correct, and soon enough the wind ceased its battle against the ship.

Kaden sighed in relief and leaned into his seat, making Michael chuckle. "Where'd that wind come from?" Kaden asked.

"Why don't you try looking it up on the central console, kiddo? If there's a storm coming I bet it'll be all over the news."

Kaden nodded, and began messing with the buttons. Fortunately he had seen his mother look up some information on the central console before from his position in the back of the ship, therefore simply doing as she did yielded the results he was looking for.

It loaded for a few seconds (greatly annoying the ever so impatient Kaden) before it displayed the logo of Fastoon Central News. "Good evening, residents of Fastoon, and visitors to the planet of course." A brown-furred Lombax with slightly longer fur on his chin spoke up.

Said Lombax was sitting behind a desk, folding his hands as he prepared to talk to the viewers. "Abnormal wind speeds have been detected over not just Lake Cirrus, but over several nearby cities as well, up to miles away from the lake, which seems to be at the center of this phenomena. Local scientists immediately began studying this strange weather and concluded that we have one heck of a storm coming. So, for all residents within a twenty-five kilometer radius of Lake Cirrus - secure your spaceships, and any belongings that you don't want flying off."

Michael's ears lowered. "Yeah, that's not good."

"Should we warn mommy?" Kaden asked, not bothering to hear the rest of the news broadcast.

"Yeah, give her a call," Michael said. "You know how to do that?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Great. Wait just a moment though, we're entering an air traffic tunnel."

And indeed, Michael flew the ship into a cylindrical hole in the wall. For a few minutes they flew through the spacious tunnel, among several other ships, before flying out into the skies of Fastoon.

"Alright, try it now," Michael said to his son, who nodded in response and began to mess with the console once again.

Not long after, Alexis appeared on the small screen, looking rather panicked. "Where are you guys?!" she instantly asked, worry straining her voice. "There's a storm coming, and I don't want you guys caught in the thick of it! It's bad enough with what I have here, please don't get into any harm."

"Alexis, what's going on?" Michael asked, put on edge by Alexis' look of terror.

"Michael, we don't have any windows to protect the inside of our house from the storm. It won't be long until our furniture will be flying through the house at this rate. Please, at least tell me you and Kaden are safe."

"We're almost there, honey. Just hold tight. Do help me with Kaden though, I'll secure the ship while you bring him to safety, okay?"

"Okay. Any estimations on the amount of time it'll take you to get here?"

"Three minutes. Just hang on."

"Gotcha. I'll keep Simon safe too. You just make sure you get yourself and our son back here in one piece."

Alexis disappeared from the monitor. Michael shuddered. "I don't like this one bit."

"Are we still inside that protective field, daddy?"

"Yeah, but we won't be for much longer. Hang onto your stones kiddo."

"Stones?"

"...I'll tell you later... You know what, ask your mom instead."

Ahead of them a blue holographic dome faded out of existence, and as soon as they passed through the ship was pulled back and forth by the wind.

Fortunately the house came into view one minute later, though Michael had to do something risky in order to land - fly very closely over the rooftops to reduce the amount of wind while making sure he wouldn't deal any damage to the houses.

Alexis had seen them coming and opened the garage that she had hastily cleared of belongings earlier. As soon as the ship was inside, Michael jumped out and began unloading the glass panels. "You know, I've never thought of flying right into the garage."

"That's because you never clear it, mister," Alexis said as she helped Kaden out of the ship and into his wheelchair. "Go look for Simon, kiddo. We'll make sure the wind can't deal any more damage."

Kaden nodded, and rolled out of the room. "Alright, glass," Alexis said. "I presume you ordered that special kind?"

"Yep," Michael said, taking a can of glue out of the cargo space. "Easy to apply, quick to dry, and stronger than a Z'Grute after a light-eating binge. Let's get this done quick before the wind blows our skin off."

"Okay. I've already removed the shards of glass by the way. I'll apply the glue, you put in the glass, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan to me. Let's get to work," Michael said, grabbing a window while handing Alexis the can of glue and a brush.

Alexis quickly got to work, applying a thin layer of glue to the areas where the windows used to be, while Michael, with varying degrees of effort due to the wind pushing him back now that he was holding a large glass panel in front of him, put the glass in place. The chemicals applied to the edges of the glass did their work perfectly, solidifying the glue seconds after the glass was brought into position.

The last window was the hardest, as the storm was getting closer and closer. It took a combined effort of both Michael and Alexis to keep the window in place long enough for the glue to harden.

Michael crashed on the couch, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Alexis, on the other hand, seemed totally unaffected, as if she did this every day. She smiled at him. "Tired already, love?"

"Hey, you weren't the one pushing against glass with their whole body to keep the damn wind out."

Alexis nodded. "True," she said with a chuckle. "I'm gonna check up on the kids, see if Kaden got Simon to calm. Because when the wind started picking up and knocking over items an hour ago, he was pretty freaked out. The poor child was so spooked he could have given a ghost a run for its money."


With some difficulties, Kaden managed to move around the house in search of his friend. As soon as he had left the garage he had been hit by strong blasts of wind, forcing him to pull on the brakes of his wheelchair with full strength to avoid being blown back more than once as he continued his search.

He had checked under the couch, then in the kitchen, and on both occasions the result was negative. If someone were to walk in on Kaden during his search, all they would see is a golden tail as Kaden had to lean forward to peek inside the kitchen cabinets, leaving nothing but his tail sticking out, which the wind had immediately begun to pull on.

After concluding that Simon was not downstairs, or at least not anymore, Kaden had rolled over to the staircase. With the wind constantly threatening to pull him back and send him flying off, he had to come up with a clever solution to keep him tied down. In the end he literally tied himself down, wrapping his tail around the handrail and climbing up step by step. It wasn't comfortable, but it beat being sent flying and having to do it all over again.

Thankfully most of the upstairs windows were still intact, reducing the wind's force greatly, to Kaden's relief.

Crawling through the house, he had checked his own bedroom for signs of his friend, up to checking under his bed. He then checked the bathroom (the biggest challenge was pulling himself up so he could peek inside the bathtub to see if Simon was hiding there), his father's study (up to the point where he unscrewed the back panel of his father's computer to check inside for hints), and lastly, his parents' bedroom.

He had checked under the desk, in his mother's closet, in his father's closet, under the bed, in the pile of laundry lying on the floor that his mother still had to sort, and even behind the curtains.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead and adjusting his legs from their crawling position, he pulled himself up on his parents' bed and sat down on the bedsheet.

"Ow!"

Kaden jumped with a loud scream, landing face-first in the laundry, sending the clothing flying everywhere. Kaden got up immediately, but he put his hand down on one of his father's shirts, which made him slip and land on his back. He finally got up, one of his own shirts covering his left ear. "What was that?!"

"Nothing…" he heard a weak voice say from under the bedsheets.

Kaden laughed and crawled over to the bed before, with a forceful tug, pulling the sheets off, exposing his new friend.

"What're you doing here, Simon?" Kaden asked, sitting down while the strange child got up.

Simon stayed silent and stared at the floor.

"Are you trying to hide from the storm?" Kaden asked quietly, pulling himself up and sitting down next to his friend.

Simon nodded slowly.

"What's so scary about it anyway?"

"Why aren't you afraid?" Simon asked back, fear shining in his eyes. "The storm picks up a chair, smacks it against your head, and it's over. Or worse, it picks you up and sends you flying off to who knows where."

At first it didn't seem that scary to Kaden, but then the thought of being sent flying, pulled into the air and away from home by a violent and uncontrollable force of nature, before being dropped high above the ground made him shudder.

"Yeah… I can see why you think they're scary," Kaden said, folding his hands in his lap.

"Aren't you scared?" Simon said, looking at Kaden with a raised eyebrow.

Kaden giggled. "No. And thunderstorms are bad too… but lots of rain and wind is fine with me."

"Why is that?"

"It gives you time to think," Kaden said, letting his feet swing back and forth gently. "You know, plan your next adventure."

"That is certainly true, my little adventurer," Alexis said with a warm smile as she entered. She sat down in between the two boys and wrapped her left arm around Simon, and her right arm around Kaden.

"You know Simon, my mom always bakes cookies when there's a bad storm out," Kaden said, eyeing his mother. "They're really yummy and they can make you feel less scared during a storm."

Alexis laughed. "Oh, I know what you're hinting at," she said, running a hand through the fur on her son's head. "You know, today is one of those days that I'd make cookies on, but I, how shall I put this, 'need a hand'. A bunch of extra hands in fact, as everything has been knocked over, so it'll take a while before I'll be able to start at all, and then I won't be finished until shortly before dinner if I'm on my own."

"Sooooo… I'll have to help?" Kaden asked, tilting his head slightly.

"M-hm. If you want freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies that is," Alexis replied, booping her son's nose.

"I'm sorry," Simon suddenly spoke up.

Alexis gently squeezed the child. "Hey. hey, you have nothing to apologize for."

"No, I do. I made a mess of this bed."

Alexis laughed. Not a brief chuckle, but a warm, genuine laugh that easily cleared out the uneasy atmosphere that had been holding the room hostage. "Like it'll be picture perfect tomorrow morning after I've slept in it. Please, it's okay."

Alexis gave the child a warm smile. "Say… we're going to need eight hands working together to get the cookies done on time… would you like to help us?"

Simon stayed silent for a brief moment, staring through the window at the storm outside. Not as if it would provide him with an answer, but for something for his eyes to focus on while he thought. At last, he spoke very quietly, too quiet were it not for the trademark sensitive ears of the Lombax species. "...Do you think I can?"

"You'll be fine, we'll walk you through it every step of the way," Alexis said, rubbing the child's upper arm. "Besides, if you ask Kaden, nothing beats cookie dough."

"She's right Simon!" Kaden immediately said in an excited tone. "It's the best!"

"You just be careful to not overdo it, you can't have too much cookie dough," Alexis said with a slightly warning tone in her voice, silently reminding her son of the time when he had eaten too much dough and had ended up feeling sick for hours.

"Yes, mom. I'll take care," Kaden said, staring at his feet. "Can you blame me though? It's just so awesome!"

"Blame you, I cannot, but is it worth getting sick over?" Alexis said in an almost poetic fashion.

"I know, I know, let's get to it already," Kaden said, getting a bit impatient.

Alexis nodded. She stood up, taking Simon's hand, and guided the child down the stairs. Eleven seconds later - although it seemed like eleven minutes to the ever so impatient Kaden - Michael entered the room and helped Kaden sit down on his shoulders, before carrying his son down the stairs.

Not long after, everyone was hard at work at preparing the kitchen, as several items had been knocked off the shelves by the wind. The countertop was covered in broken glass, with spices, sugar, and salt scattered everywhere. Even some wine that Alexis had been saving to use in a dish, as the bottle had fallen over, before being smashed by a jar full of spices from Quantos.

While Simon helped Alexis with cleaning the countertop, Kaden and Michael quickly prepared the equipment that they would need, as well as gathered the ingredients.

Soon enough the kitchen was filled with joy, as everyone worked together to create the best cookies as soon as possible.

There was even a moment where Kaden, as "noble" as he was, offered to taste the dough "to check for poison" that an unseen foe may have poured in.

"You never know mommy," he said with a shake of his head. "It could be poisoned for real. Like, what if a stinky Blarg poisoned it so you'd have to make a whole new ball of cookie dough, or what if an evil mad robot scientist with a butler zapped one of the cookie dough balls with his ray gun and planned to turn it into a ball of metal?!" The little Lombax ticked off his responses on his fingers, his face the very definition of serious. "Or maybe a green cyborg ninja poisoned it?" Kaden screwed up his face in thought. "...It was definitely a green cyborg ninja mommy."

"No, no, mister," Alexis said with a laugh. "There are no smelly Blarg, evil robots, or ninjas in this house, and you're going to have to wait for the cookies to finish."

"But mooom, I'm certain I saw one just now!" Kaden tried, making Michael laugh. Michael quickly hid behind the table and wrapped an unused towel that he quickly took from a kitchen cabinet around his muzzle. "Yes, it is I, the great, uuh… ninja king!"

Alexis gave him a stare.

"It sounded a lot cooler in my head," Michael mumbled before continuing his monologue. "Those cookies are mine and mine alone, now hand them over!"

The result was Michael and Kaden 'dueling' with spoons while Simon and Alexis watched, Simon with some confusion and Alexis with amusement.

In the end, Kaden won, after a 'long and exhausting battle'. Michael leaned down on one knee, 'defeated'.

"Now, ninja king, who might you be?" Kaden said, before removing the towel hiding the lower half of his father's face.

"That's right, junior cookie-maker, I am your father!" Michael dramatically cried out, making a wide array of over-exaggerated, funny faces as everyone burst out laughing.

A half an hour later, everyone was sitting in the living room. Exhausted, but with a plate full of warm, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies placed on the coffee table.

Of course, Kaden's impatience and his 'victory over the ninja king' earned him the privilege of eating the first cookie, which he wolfed down like he hadn't eaten in three days.

"Now, now, don't be such a glutton Kaden," Alexis warned, watching the crumbles scatter across the carpet. "And be careful with your crumbs, we don't want to walk around on crumbs or attract any bugs into the house."

"Sowy mom," Kaden said with a full mouth, before swallowing.

"Well, how is the result of our efforts, master cookie tester?" Michael asked with a smile on his face.

Kaden gave his father a thumbs up. "Master cookie tester approves."

"I'll have to try that then," Michael said, picking up a cookie.

It was then that a strange feeling washed over Kaden, as if he had forgotten something. He must have had a puzzled look on his face, for Alexis asked him if something was wrong.

"It's okay mom, it's just… I feel like I'm forgetting something."

Kaden's eyes roamed the living room, hoping that any of the objects he could see would be able to jog his memory. Finally his eyes settled on a rock in the back yard, and his eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah… Hey mommy? Daddy told me something that I don't understand today, and told me to ask you about it."

Michael turned a bit white. "I, uh… I'll be right back."

"Sure, kiddo, what did he say?" Alexis asked.

"What are 'stones'? As in, 'holding onto your stones'? When we were flying through the storm, he told me to hang onto them. Then he told me to ask you about them."

Alexis stayed silent for a moment, her face a mask of steel. "Excuse me for a few minutes. I need to go speak to your father real quick Kaden," she said before taking off after Michael.

He definitely had some explaining ahead of him.


Alright, there we go! Sorry again for this long wait, I hope I can get the next chapter done a bit sooner.

...

Yeah, I'm out of inspiration for author's notes...