NightRain0- Yay! The SAT's are over! Now back to the story! Sorry for making you all wait so long! Please R&R!

Something to Live For

Chapter 5

After Kadaj emerged from the pile of sand he had little time to breathe the fresh air when all of a sudden, a very pissed Asano shoved his head below the sand again.

"You stupid spoiled brat," growled Asano. "I told you not to touch anything!"

"Well, well, look who it is," said a smug voice.

"Oh great…" muttered Asano. "It's Katashi…"

When Kadaj got his head out of the sand, he saw standing before them another young man about the same age as Asano. Behind Katashi stood several men and women all wearing some sort of strange armor. In Kadaj's opinion, they looked rather stupid in their clunky uniforms.

"Those are the Knights," whispered Daisuke, who was currently in dog-form.

"The Knights?" questioned Kadaj.

"They're a group trying to overthrow the government. Katashi's their leader. He's been trying to get Asano to join the group for some time…"

"Asano doesn't want to?"

"Nah, Asano just doesn't like taking orders from anyone…ow!"

"That's enough from you," said Asano after giving Daisuke a kick in to the side.

"Who's the new guy, Asano?" asked Katashi. "Another Altered?"

"No, he's just a pain in the ass," answered Asano.

"Tell me, Asano, why would you waste your time with the Altered? They're not worth the effort. What the…?"

The wires around them suddenly glowed with an eerie green light and began to come alive. Before most of the Knights knew it, the wires had coiled around their necks and lifted them up into the air! Asano and Daisuke didn't seem at all surprised, however.

"Akira!" yelled Ken. "Put them down! I know that they weren't very polite, but honestly! Remember your manners! It's not nice to kill people without warning them first!"

"It would be more logical if we destroy the competition," replied Akira emotionlessly as his eyes also glowed with the same green color as the wires. "And warning people is overrated."

"Akira, put them down," ordered Asano.

They all stood in silence for a few seconds, and then with a sigh, Akira closed his eyes and the wires returned to their lifeless selves once more. The members of Knights crashed onto the ground with a thud, but were up within a few seconds and aimed their weapons at Akira.

"You brought the computer too…" muttered Katashi.

"I'd leave now if I were you," warned Asano. "Because I may change my mind about letting you live…"

The Knights turned to Katashi, who reluctantly gave the hand signal and within a few minutes, the Knights were gone.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Asano as Kadaj walked off.

"To find Mother," was the reply.

"What's with him and finding this 'Mother'?" asked Daisuke. "And more importantly, why would she be here? Whoever lives here has bad taste!"

"You live in a trash can, Daisuke," said Akira.

"So what's your point?"

"Forget about it," ordered Asano. "Let's go get that item before the Knights do."

"I still don't get it," whined Daisuke as the three of them walked away. "What does me living in a trash can have to do with anything?"

Ken remained silent as he watched the other three walk down the hallway. Then he looked down the other hallway where Kadaj had gone and stood there with a thoughtful look on his face…

As Kadaj walked alone down the empty hallway, he began to think about Mother and what he meant to her. Would she love him now? Or will she continue to use him like a puppet as she had before? Maybe, just maybe, she would now accept him as her son…

"Mother," he said. "What am I to you?"

Kadaj, who wasn't really paying attention to where he was going suddenly tripped over a wire and fell to the ground. He wasn't all too happy when he got back up and realized how pathetic he must have looked. However, when he tried to cut off the wire which had wrapped around his leg with his souba another wire suddenly shot out from nowhere and jerked his weapon from his hand.

"What!" exclaimed Kadaj as the wires lifted him up into the air.

"Intruder detected…" spoke a chameleon like machine. "Deletion required…"

"Don't move, Kadaj!" called out Ken as he sliced the machine into two pieces.

"I didn't need your help," growled Kadaj as he got up to his feet.

"You're just like Asano," sighed Ken. "You two never remember to say thank you! Manners are very important you know!"

"Just leave me alone!"

"Why are you acting this way? Did you get dropped on your head when you were a kid or something? Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?"

"I…it's none of your business…"

"Maybe, but you still owe me a thank you!"

"Your attitude…it's annoying…"

"Well, that wasn't very nice… oh well; we'll work on your manners later. By the way, how did you activate that old piece of machinery anyways?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about that," said Ken as he pointed to the dismantled remains of the machine. "The androids in this lab had been inactive for quite some time, and it's not like them to just simply wake up without warning… What did you do, besides trip over the wire?"

Kadaj didn't have a chance to answer Ken when the dark hallway they were in lit up. The old building shook wildly, causing some of the loose equipment to come crashing down on top of the two boys.

"Well, this is certainly not one of my better days," muttered Ken as he brushed off the dust from his clothes. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Kadaj. "What was that!"

The old rusted androids which were supposedly out of order seemed to be functioning quite well and were advancing towards them by the hundreds!

"Is this your doing?" questioned Ken.

"No! I didn't do anything!"

"Well, there's only one thing to do at a time like this!"

"What's that?"

"Run!"

"Did you guys here anything?" asked Daisuke.

"What are you talking about, mutt?" demanded Asano.

"Something's not right," continued Daisuke. "The smell…something's definitely not right!"

"You're just probably hallucinating again," said Asano. "So a few lights came on, that's not… Akira?"

There was something wrong with the redhead, his eyes were blank and empty and he wasn't moving.

"What's wrong with you?" demanded Asano. "You'd better not be…"

"Asano, look!" yelled Daisuke, his eyes wide with shock.

"What the hell is that?"

NightRain0: The next chapter will be better! Promise! Until next time! Bye bye!