Chapter 11

It had been approximately one week after my battle with that monster swan, and in the time period I had been resting...I hadn't really accomplished much. My mother was worried for my safety, and I felt remorseful at the fact that I had caused her so much anxiety, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Trouble just seemed to be attracted to me.

Thankfully, I hadn't ended up going to the hospital, but I had heard there were some intense reviews and sanctions placed WAZA. Apparently, there was some detective trying to sue the place or something like that. I smirked as I rolled over in my bed, staring at my decorated ceiling. There was no way that one man could bring down a place like WAZA.

It turns out that the Tom guy had actually been reinstated to work at the place. Nobody but Boreal and I knew what truly had occurred in the space simulator, but it seemed that Boreal had sympathies for his misguided friend. So Tom was back working at WAZA. I didn't really feel that happy about it, seeing as how the guy was a little mentally unstable, but it wasn't really my place to say anything about it.

That guy brought a shiver to my spine, seeing how he transformed into a monster swan. The things he said too...they didn't sit too well with me. While we were fighting, I sympathized with his words. I could understand what he was feeling and the motives of his words.

What he was saying...

It sounded almost identical to the feelings which I held about other people. Tom didn't trust others because he had been harmed by relationships in the past. I don't want to admit it, but his beliefs sounded a lot like mine. Can other people really be trusted? There were so many people with mendacious personalities in the world.

Could you really trust anyone?

An image of Boreal appeared in my mind, and I closed my eyes in resignation. That man...Boreal could definitely be trusted. The amount of loyalty that he showed towards his friends was unreal. I couldn't believe it myself. When I first met him, I thought he was a pushover...but now...

I truly understand what he is.

Still, though. A character like Boreal is a rare occurrence comparing to all the other reprobate characters in the world. Was it really safe to create bonds with other people seeing as the only result would be pain and misery? Was the benefits of bonds really worth it? I have held these beliefs since...that day.

However...

That Tom person...he had the same ideas as I, and look what he turned out to become. A weird swan monster with no regard for any type of human life. He had turned into a reprehensible creature who didn't care about anybody but himself. Could it be...that if I were to continue on my path, that I would turn out the same way? I doubt I would become a swan monster, but the concept was disconcerting.

I don't know what will happen to me in the future, but it seemed that Tom and I weren't really that different after all. But I can't accept it. I can't ever accept the belief that Tom and I will share the same fate. I gritted my teeth in frustration as I turned over to stare at my bedside clock.

It was only around noon, but there was only one thing that I could do to settle my doubts. Although it was much too early for star-gazing, going to Vista Point still helped me when I wanted to entertain pensive thoughts. It wasn't a school day, so I didn't have to worry about going there. Not like I'd care to go in the first place.

I don't even know why I went to that place anymore. I found all the information I needed from those other kids, so there wasn't much point in being there. Yet for some reason, I still continue to go. Shaking my head, I sat up from my bed and grabbed my jacket. These weren't the ideas I was debating.

My footsteps were quiet, yet they seemed to echo in my empty house. Mom was gone to work at the moment, so there was nobody in the house but me. I walked into the main room, taking small glances at old pictures before redirecting my gaze to the door. The house was actually quite dark for some reason, and as I opened the door, a large ray of light illuminated the rooms.

I turned around, staring at the now bright living room.

"I'm leaving," I announced to nobody in particular, as I closed the door behind me and started walking to Vista Point.

It wasn't that long of a walk, seeing as how it was only about half an hour. The world to me seemed a bit darker than usual. Most of the time it was prosaic but placid. However, today, everyone I passed seemed to be muddled in their own thoughts. Looking up at the sky, the clouds seemed in the same way.

The weather wasn't particularly cloudy, but it wasn't particularly sunny as well. My eyes narrowed as I stared at my surroundings. Something just didn't seem right to me.

I checked my transer, looking for Mega's familiar face. Unfortunately, for the last couple of days, he had told me that he needed to do some scouting on new potential enemies. So it looked like he hadn't returned yet. I sighed wearily as I continued walking up the stairs of Vista Point. I was actually glad for the lapse in fighting, seeing as how life returned to its peaceful self.

Yet, at the same time, after having battle experiences, everything felt...off... not having more of them. I shrugged to myself as I continued. There was nothing I could do about it.

I took a look around Vista Point, stopping at the top of the stairs. It hadn't changed a bit since I was gone. The grass was still green as ever, and the dreary attitude of the world seemed to slowly melt away as I took in more of the view. There was a small pond that had grown a bit since I was last here. It also looked like the small tree growing over it had grown larger, seeing as how the shadow it cast upon the pond had increased.

Maybe it had changed a bit.

I breathed in fresh Vista Point air, quite a big difference from the air from my walk. Unlike the oxygen that conventional technology tried to mimic, there was nothing that nature couldn't beat. Life outside of fighting had enervated me, but being here at Vista Point reinvigorated me.

Sadly, my peace was ruined by the sound of footsteps. My head turned slightly as my ears twitched, taking in the sound of rushing. I turned around slightly to take a look at the stairs behind me, only to see a bright flash of pink.

I let out a brief grunt of frustration as a small pink blob made her way up the stairs to Vista Point. I let out a brief noise of confusion as Sonia apparently had not chosen to wear her usual bright pink attire today. It seemed that even she was affected by the drab atmosphere.

The girl's eyes were wide and in panic as she scrambled her way into Vista Point. I narrowed my eyes as she kicked up dirt and grass as she ran over to me. Why did she have to ruin such a nice area?

"Geo!" She yelled, stopping next to me to pant for breath. I acknowledged her presence very slightly with a slight shift of my body. But other than that, I had no response. Sonia looked up at me with pleading eyes as she put her hands together. "Please, you have to help me get away from him!"

I looked behind her as my eyes widened in confusion. She was running from someone? Then why did she choose to come up to Vista Point! It was a dead end after all!

At this point, Sonia seemed to be breaking down. Tears were running down her face, and she started to mumble to herself. I snorted in derision at her, before my voice stopped her little meltdown.

"Calm down, and tell me what's happening."

Sonia responded desperately. "There's no time to be calm! Please! You have to hide me!" I stared at her for a little bit as she seemed to freak out. After a couple seconds, seeing as how I made no move to help her, she spoke with a tone I've never heard her use before. "There is a man after me, and I need to hide from him."

Why did she need to hide from a guy? If she just screamed in public, a bunch of people would probably destroy that man for her. After all, she was considered a celebrity. Taking a look at her whimpering face, I sighed in annoyance before relenting. Seems that the action I wanted finally came to me.

I took a good look around Vista Point. There was no real place to hide, since it was basically an open field. I took a look at the pond, noticing the shade which the tree above it provided. I then glanced at Sonia's clothes, which happened to be dark blue and black. That might work.

"Listen." I commanded, causing Sonia to break out of her hyperventilating. "If you really do want to hide, then go into that pond over there. Don't make any noise, and just leave your follower to me."

Sonia was about to demur, but a single strident look from me was enough to quiet her. "Go now." I said simply, as I pushed her towards the pond. She apparently really did want to hide, seeing as how she jumped in the pond with no hesitation at all. I shook my head as she ruined yet another piece of Vista Point, but it couldn't really be helped.

Now for her follower...

I didn't expect it, but the whole ground shook as something seemed to be moving up the stairs. I braced myself, unconsciously getting ready for some weird mutated monster to appear out of nowhere. After fighting the FM-ians, I didn't know what to expect. The footsteps got louder and louder, until a huge...person climbed the stairs.

His feet boomed heavily as he stopped near me. This guy...what was he? He was wearing some kind of pink suit that barely fit him, and he had these weird sunglasses that were shaped like guitars.

The man spoke loudly, causing me to grit my teeth from the volume of his voice. His voice was a cacophony of noises, making me wince in annoyance. "Have you seen a girl run up here recently?" The man glared at me, probably thinking that I could be swayed by his pathetic intimidation. Even before I faced the FM-ians, his glares were nothing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I responded evenly, causing the man to visibly contort with anger.

The man seemed to stomp on the ground, creating little shockwaves through the soft grass of Vista Point. Another part of the place was being ruined by some person with no respect. "You don't know what I'm talking about, huh kid?" I showed no reaction to his statement, continuing to stare him down. "Well how bout this? I'm asking you if Sonia Strumm came through here!"

I scoffed at his misguided intimidation attempts. Who did he think I was? I stared at the man with disdain as I replied laconically, "Never heard of her."

This seemed to shock the man quite a bit, as he took a step back and gasped loudly. He stammered, "Y-You've never heard of Sonia Strumm!" I shrugged at his outburst, and stood my ground as he approached me. The man stood right next to me, towering over me, pushing his face near mine. "You liar!" He yelled, causing me to wince in revulsion.

The man continued to rage on, "There's not a soul alive who doesn't know who that girl is! You're hiding her from me, and you will tell me where she is!" My face settled on an impassive look.

I shrugged to the guy. "You can say what you want about me. But what I'm saying is the truth, whether you want to believe it or not." The guy stood up to his full height, glaring at me so hard his blood vessels on his face were popping out.

He then grabbed the front of my shirt, trying to invoke a reaction out of me. "You...will tell me. Now!" The man screamed, causing me to grit my teeth in anger. This guy just wouldn't give up, would he. I narrowed my eyes as he actually started to lift me up. It seemed this guy actually had some strength.

"Unless you want to get hurt, I suggest you start talking," The man said as he lifted me a good foot off the ground. I wasn't concerned. If I could take a hit from a swan monster, I could take a hit from a tall loser. He continued on, "I'll give you the count of three. If you don't talk until then, you'll get a beating."

"Three." I stayed silent, staring at him with a recalcitrant look.

"Two." The man's face contorted even further, and he was tensing his body for an attack. Maybe if I could just block it...

"One..." The man brought his arm back.

I smirked at him, giving him one last look, before I spat on his face, watching in amusement at his look of disgust. "You brat!" He screamed in a high pitch voice, before I felt a crushing pain erupt in my chest. I must have been sent back flying, as I suddenly hit water. I let out a gasp as I felt blood come out of my mouth.

My vision was starting to waver, but I noticed a small pink dot only a couple feet from me. There was Sonia, hiding underneath the water, watching me with fearful and shocked eyes.

"Stay...dow-!," I hacked, breaking out into a coughing fit halfway through it. If she was found now, the hit I just took would all be for nothing. I don't even know why I was protecting her! But I got roped into this, and I wasn't planning to leave.

"That's what you get, you disgusting hooligan!" The man yelled, as he stormed down the stairs of Vista Point.

Good...he left.

My vision was coming back to me, as I stared at the point where he left. The sharp pain which I had first experienced lessened into a dull throbbing pain. I took a deep breath, but stopped as I had to struggle for breath. It seemed that when I wasn't with Mega, I couldn't take a hit after all. As I tried to sit up, a sharp pain made me twitch. The training I did with Mega was insufficient after all.

"Geo!" Sonia's harrowed voice screamed, as she splashed from her hiding spot to look at me. "Why did you stand up to him like that! You didn't have to do that for me!" I took a good look at her. Her clothes were completely soaked in mud and water, and her face was streaming with tears.

"Are you...ok?" I asked, gathering some strength to slowly move myself up into a sitting position.

"You didn't have to do this!" Sonia yelled miserably as she took in my condition. "You're hurt now, and all you can worry about is me! Why!" The girl started to cry again, muttering to herself.

"Heh," I stated, smirking to myself. "I'm just disappointed that I couldn't get a hit in."

Sonia's eyes widened as she responded vigorously, "There's no way you can fight someone like that! He's too strong! The only thing we can do is hide from him!"

My eyes narrowed, as I turned to glare at Sonia, shocking her out of her statements. Who was she to tell me who to hide from. That guy wasn't all that tough! This girl...she was just a coward after all. How pathetic.

I spoke to her in derision, "If..If I were to allow myself to be fearful of scum like him, I would never forgive myself." Sonia gasped at my words as I turned to her with a mocking smirk. "At this point, physical pain is nothing to me. I've taken enough beatings to know who to fear, and a loser like him is nothing to me."

"Geo..."

"Enough." I cut her off. "If you want to continue this pathetic game of Cat and Mouse, that's fine by me. We're going to WAZA. If you want a place to hide, that's probably your best bet." I don't know what came over me, but something about Sonia riled me up. This guy... the way Sonia reacted to him disgusted me. But for some reason, I didn't want to leave her to him. So it looked like the best place to go would be WAZA.

The pink haired girl remained quiet, but acknowledged my orders. I smirked. Finally something seemed to be going my way. I moved up slowly, no longer needing large breaths of air. It appeared that the initial pain of that guy's hit was over. I stood up, looking back at Sonia.

"Let's go."

It wasn't that far to WAZA. We took a bus straight there, and it was only a thirty minute ride or so. Our only detour was to go pick up her guitar that she had left behind somewhere. It wasn't that far from the bus, so I let her retrieve it. The bus ride was mostly uneventful, seeing as how Sonia was staring at me almost the whole time, and getting ignored the whole time.

I sent a message to my mother that I might now be back at the house until a little later. But my plan probably wouldn't take that much time, seeing as all I wanted to do was drop Sonia off at WAZA and leave. I was hesitant to leave her in Echo Ridge seeing how effectively that guy tracked her down.

And there was only one place that I knew outside of Echo Ridge. Which is the place I was currently at. I took a quick glance at the rockets and space shuttles around me, before taking small steps forward. My body hadn't actually recovered too well from the hit I sustained seeing how it was hard for me to walk without a limp.

I took a couple more steps towards the entrance of WAZA, turning around to make sure that Sonia was behind me. It wouldn't be far now, I would be able to go back to Vista Point hopefully after I was done here.

"Why are you doing this?" Sonia inquired timidly, stopping to my side. I turned to give her a blank look, observing her silently. She didn't appear in bad shape, but her body language was much different than usual. Most of the time she was extremely effervescent, but now she was moody and depressed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied with a calm voice, as we started walking again. All I had to do was find Boreal. That guy would take anyone in, not to mention the fact that Sonia was a celebrity.

Sonia's unusually quiet voice interrupted our silent walk again.

"Why are you helping me? I thought you didn't like me?"

I made a small noise in amusement as I stopped walking. Why was I helping her? I don't really know the answer to that question. It just felt...weird seeing Sonia so subservient and fearful of one guy. It was like seeing myself from a long time ago. But there was no chance I would tell her that.

My response was slow and calculated. "My reasons are my own. All you need to know is that I'm helping you." Sonia winced, and I thought she would start crying again, but thankfully she just nodded. I wouldn't know what to do if she started randomly crying in a museum.

I walked up to one of the ticket desks, demanding calmly, "I need to see Boreal."

Twenty minutes later, the guy came down from WAZA upstairs, looking the same as the last time I saw him. "Hey Geo! What's up!" Boreal greeted amiably.

"Boreal, I need you to help this girl," I replied calmly, motioning to Sonia to step forward. It seemed that she had regained some of her usual ardor, seeing as how she greeted Boreal with a happy face. "A man is chasing her, and she needs some place to hide."

Boreal's eyes widened in confusion as he took a look at Sonia. I could tell he was already thinking of who it was. The man raised a small question, pulling out a pink CD case from inside his jacket and comparing the picture to Sonia. I sighed in amusement as Boreal started to inquire.

"Is this-?"

"Yes."

And with that, we were off to Boreal's office.

"Snacks are over there, drinks can be found down the hall. Please don't touch anything, Sonia." Boreal stated as he ran through his office, rearranging things in an attempt to make it look nicer. Normally, I'd say it was because Sonia was there, but for Boreal, I was pretty sure he would do the same thing for anybody.

He had a nice view, too. There was a large window that showed the outside of WAZA, including most of the space shuttles and rockets. He even had a large model rocket inside his own office. Boreal inquired happily as he shoved some crumbs into a trash can.

"Make yourself at home. Oh, and Geo, are you staying with her?"

Sonia looked at me with a pleading look on her face as I contemplated it. There wasn't much of a point for me to stay up here, and I did want to go to Vista Point. It wasn't that late in the afternoon, but I didn't know how long it would take to get back. I took a look around the room to see if there was anything of particular value that I could mess around with.

"We have some star charts if you want to look at those," Boreal said, panting lightly as he sat down in a chair. Hmm...that could be interesting.

I shrugged, looking at Sonia. "Sure, why not?"

Twenty minutes later, Sonia was back to her own bubbly self, basically flying around the office looking at random models and papers that Boreal happened to have. The girl sure was energetic, I have to give her that. I was looking at the blueprints for the space station that my dad had been in, trying to spot any anomalies in the design.

Unfortunately, I wasn't having much luck.

And Boreal? He was staring at some designs as well. But he was doing it with much more vigor. The guy must have enjoyed his work quite a lot to be doing that all day.

Sonia peered over my shoulder to see what I was doing, and I ignored her in turn. I wasn't sure how much longer I would stay here. There was only one thing I could do, and I was almost finished with it. Most likely, I would be leaving soon.

A large boom contradicted that sentiment. I stood up quickly, almost knocking Sonia over. Boreal got up as well, giving me a confused look before asking, "Is it an earthquake? Our alarms aren't going off."

I only knew one thing that could make booms that loudly and not be a natural disaster. And I had just experienced it earlier in the day. I shifted my eyes to the door, which seemed to rumble from the force of the shockwaves. It couldn't be...How could that guy track us down this far?

"Geo, is everything alright!" Sonia asked, taking a step closer to me. My eyes widened as I started to think. How could that guy have found us! There was no way we were follow-

I looked at Sonia, and then I looked at her guitar. The one that she had to go get before we went on the bus. I grabbed it from her, and turned it over on its side. A small beep was all that I needed to know. That guy placed some kind of tracking device on her guitar? But how could he have gotten close enough to do that?

Sadly for me, the door burst open before I could make any more inferences about the topic. And there the guy was, an almost crazed look on his face.

"There you are Sonia! You can't avoid your manager for long!"

Been a while, but I'm still here. Thanks to those who have stuck around my inconsistent uploading. My styles probably changed a lot since I first started the story, but that's ok.

Any constructive criticism would be appreciated.

R&R