Chapter 1

The Hooded Boy

So what if I'm crazier than crazy?
So what if I'm sicker than sick?
So what if I'm out of control?
Maybe that's what I like about it

"So What" by Three Days Grace

A/N: Dark warning. Insanity inspired by Borderlands.

It was in the dead of night. Eerie and quiet. Moonlight shined down, it's rays falling over various portions of the old buildings but frighteningly enough certain shadier points seem to deny their brilliance no matter how bright they shone.

Perhaps, a bad omen.

Under one of the moonlit sidewalks, stood a tall lanky boy who fearfully stuck under the light in addition to the post. He stayed close to the walls of the crumbly brick for protection. He knew that it was merely a pointless gesture but despite what his brain knew, his body gravitated towards the walls for dear life.

The boy jumped a bit in fright at the sudden spuck spuck buk vgroom! Turning around, he saw a vehicle coming out of the darkness. Towards him. Its engine was so low that he hadn't noticed it until it was rumbling right beside him. Luckily, despite the car's decaying and decrepit form, the occupant(s) inside it thankfully paid him no mind, only continuing slowly on its way.

He gave a sigh of relief once the 'danger' passed. It may seem a bit extreme. But this area was known for its danger and one couldn't be too careful about it regardless.

After all, he had nearly lost his virginity and his life just the other night in this very place. Though, those two men weren't as fortunate as I was, he thought bitterly. Heck, he was standing near the very alley where that incident happened.

But despite all of that he felt compelled to come back here. There was just something about that man. That Yokai. That brought him back.

Could he even call him a man?

He just seemed too unreal..too inhuman to be real. Yet, that memory was just too vivid and fresh in his mind to be a dream.

The young boy just had to come back, back to this forbidden part of the city, to find him.

Though, the question still lingering in the back of his mind was...why? Why go through all of that? Again? He'll probably end up murdered this time for sure! But despite all of that, he still came back, didn't he?

"I'm definitely an idiot," he says with a heavy sigh.

Crunk!

"What?!" The boy nearly screams and jumps back at the sudden sound. He quickly pulled at his backpack, throwing it in front of himself for protection, ducking under it.

At first he clenched his eyes shut, hoping for the danger to pass but after moments of nothing happening he looked up to see nothing. I must be going crazy, he thinks. Then he heard it again, crunk clunk kuk.

In the corner of his vision, he caught sight of a quick moving shadow scurrying through one of the alleys. For a moment he had considered the shadow to be a mere rat but soon realized that it was way too large. It had to have been a person albeit one much smaller than himself!

Then, as if compelled, the young boy threw his backpack back over his shoulders and darted after the shadow. "Is that a kid?" He wonders briefly, aloud. While still tailing after the shadowy figure, he pulled out his wristwatch to see it stating the current time was 1:10am. Way too late for a child to be out and about past curfew, especially in a horrid nightmare like this place.

Something in him just exploded that commanded him to catch up to the boy lest the boy suffer a similar fate that had nearly befallen himself.

He continued chasing after the other boy. Luckily he hadn't noticed him pursuing him, but the boy soon cursed his luck when he accidentally kicked a can making a crik kik ghunk. He froze where he stood, hoping the other boy didn't hear the obviously loud crunch but just like he expected, the boy had also stopped, dead in his tracks. The hooded boy looked over side to side, trying to gauge where the sound was coming from, raising his head up as he stood high on his ankles. He looked like a doe caught in the headlights, frozen.

It was silent with the young cap-wearing boy breathing heavily, struggling pointlessly to muffle his own lungs. It was such a deathly silent that he could even hear his own heartbeat to the point that he feared that the hooded boy could also hear it.

Then like a whiplash, the other boy started running, jumping over dumpsters and kicking at trashcans in an attempt to flee.

Dammit!

"Wait! I didn't–" The young boy tried to call out, abandoning his attempt at sneaking around, and ran after the other boy. He saw the boy take a few turns, dashing like mad like a crazed acrobat before he took a sharp left into another alley. He nearly fell when he caught up, bending down to catch a breath.

When he gathered a bit of his strength back, he looked up only to see a dead end. Not only that, but it seemed like the hooded boy had vanished into thin air. Literally.

There was nothing there. Nowhere for him to hide, yet the young boy saw no trace of the other no matter how hard he looked. All there was was a single stack of newspapers and a few broken glass beer bottles.

That wasn't right! Silch. Nada! The other boy couldn't just be gone like that! There was no possible way...!

Scratching his head in confusion, the young boy finally gave up when it became apparent that it was a futile effort to continue searching when there wasn't much to search through. He turned around to leave when–

"What are you doing here?" A shiver ran down his back at the somewhat familiarity of the voice. He looked up to see Yokai–except there wasn't anyone there. "Hey!" He raised a brow in confusion and looked downward to see not Yokai but a young hooded boy standing in front of him with crossed arms. The very same boy that he had been stalking prior.

He's as young as I feared... the older boy bit his lips at the thought.

"Oh, hey!" Giving a small wave, he took a step towards the younger boy, who immediately took a step back. "Umm, don't be scared, I'm not gonna hurt you, little guy." He said, holding out his palms in a gesture of goodwill.

"Pfft, I'm not afraid, you should be the one afraid, necro!" The other boy muttered under his breath, looking down at something to his left. His cheeks were puffed out and made him look even more younger and innocent.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, taking another step closer towards the boy. He tried to be as gentle and non-threatening as possible. He was expecting the boy to back away again or even run away in fright if he came on too strong but what he didn't expect was a hard kick in the gut that forced all of the air out of his lungs. The older of the two groaned in pain, kneeling over with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Stay away, ya perv!" The hooded boy roared, pulling down at his lower eyelid and sticking his tongue out at him before he dashed away in a flash.

"Owah! That really hurt!" He looked up through teary eyes to see a vague figure of the boy just as he jumped over a dumpster and disappeared out of the alley. Shaking the pain away, he quickly stood back up, muttering to himself, "I'm gonna hate myself for this later, but I gotta help him!"

The taller boy rushed forward after where the other boy disappeared to.

In the background, a tall figure stepped from out of the shadows, unbeknownst to him. Its red eyes glowed menacingly as it watched his fleeing back before a swarm of black mist covered it and it returned back to the shadows.

–

The young boy ended up following the hooded boy into another shady part of the city after running full force. Now he was out of breath, panting. He made a mental note to remind himself to go running more often.

Nearby he spotted groups of people walking into a building. He quirked an eyebrow at that. The abandoned building was suspiciously un-abandoned if the passerbys meant anything. And they were as shady as they came, sporting various scars and tattoos which only worried him further. His gut was telling him that the boy was also in there, sadly. And while he kind of hoped that his gut was wrong. he had to try and make sure.

When he went to the entrance, a large thick bouncer blocked his way with crossed arms. The large man pointed his face upwards and sneered at him with a downward gaze.

"Uhhh, I'm here for the-the thing?" The boy said, snapping at himself mentally for being so obviously out of place.

"No dice, kid." The older man sternly said, shaking his head. He raised a thumb behind him. "No tickets. No entry."

"What about those guys?" The boy gestured towards a few older young adults who didn't have any tickets.

The large man just shook his head again. "They're bot-fighters."

"So, if I'm a bot-fighter I don't need any tickets?" He asked the man, hopefully. An idea clicked into his head as he smiled. The man just shrugged and gave a confirming nod.

The boy pulled out his backpack and started digging into it for a moment, throwing a few unnecessary things out. The man rolled his eyes out at the boy. Noob, he thought when the boy made a loud "Aha!' before pulling out a small bot in his hand.

At least it looked like a bot. Rather, it looked more like the skeleton or corpse of one.

The man raised a brow at the thing that was shoved into his face and sneered at it.

The thing wiggled and buzzed, twisting its limbs back and forth almost as if it wanted to make a greeting gesture but failed to do so.

"This is Baymax!" The boy said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hello. I am Baymax, your Personal Health Care Robot." The thing added ever so helpfully.

The man snorted and rolled his eyes again. After giving the bot, Baymax, a once-over, he gruffly stepped aside and huffed at the boy to enter.

"Good luck in the match-ups." The man added before the door closed behind him, "Che, you'll need it!"

–

Before him were many individuals all scattered about. To one side he saw a score of rough biker looking gangsters who were cackling madly as they cranked and turned a few gears on their bots, large goliaths that were nearly as tall as they were. There was an explosion and one of them with a green Mohawk was sent flying right at the boy's foot, his face was covered in soot and hair was singed but the man just laid there laughing like a hyena.

He nervously stepped around the man and looked to another side to see a group of girls dressed in scantily clad skirts and many tattoos that covered more skin than any piece of clothing they had did. They were working on a dog-sized spiderbot while laying against it in one of the raunchiest ways possible that made the boy blush. One of the girls spotted him and made a flirty gesture, sticking her tongue out between her fingers and lapping at the skin.

He turned his head away and raised the collar of his shirt up, quickening his pace. The girl merely laughed mockingly at him calling him a "Virgin". He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

He wished he was more headstrong like his girl friend, he had always admired her strong femininity. Heh, her femininity was more masculine than feminine but she'd be offended if he ever said that to her face. Not because he called her manly but because it'd offend her sense of what it meant to be a woman and that's what he's always loved about her. He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

While lost in thought, though, he hadn't watched where he was going and ended up bumping into someone.

"Hey!" A grainy voice shouted and pushed him to the floor.

The boy fell on his head and his bot flew out of his grasps.

"Baymax!"

To his misfortune, his prototype got up and started walking by itself. He crawled after the little care bot while trying to mind not getting trampled on by the numerous feet stepping around him. His eyes widened as a larger bot nearly stepped on it and almost crushed it under its heavy steps.

"Baymax!" He kept calling out for it but the wobbly endoskeleton kept on walking, ignoring its creator's cries. The young boy mentally reminded himself to run some more diagnostic tests on the bot when he got it back.

He got up as quickly as he could and chased after the little bot, praying to the gods that it didn't end up destroying itself.

"Baymax!"

The more he chased after the endoskeleton, the more he noticed a crowd forming in front of him. With more and more people gathering in front of him, it was making it harder for him to keep track of Baymax. Until finally, he lost sight of the bot.

He squeezed through the thick crowd and he could hear them cheering louder and louder as he got closer to where the action was.

In the background he heard a booming female's voice over the sound boxes scattered all over the ceiling by heavy chains. Techno beats and flashing lights followed as the lights turned off.

"Are you ready to crush some bots!?" The female voice called out followed by a deafening roar from the crowd.

The boy kept pushing past the crowd while trying to apologize until he finally reached the end and was met with a bunch of spotlights centering on the large stage in front of him. There was a large man sitting atop a pedestal like throne, a few feet off of the ground near the middle of the ring with a few more people forming a circle in the pit. All of them were standing beside their own bots which easily stood at their height, while a few of them were shorter and there was one that was over 3 times the size of a full-grown man.

It was a bot-fighting ring, he realized.

"This is a free-for-all match!" The woman's voice boomed again. He stood on tip-toes to peer over the ring to see more and noticed a young woman racing back and forth on rollerblades with a headset wrapped around her head. "Sixteen bots enter: Only one leaves!"

Fireworks shot out from the stage and exploded all over the crowd, making them go mad as they cheered again, waving their arms like crazed lunatics. It was so crowded that the boy got punched by one of the audience members when many of the fans waved their items (glow-sticks, banners, knives) around and jumped at the edges of the fence.

He rubbed the sore spot on his face and whimpered, hoping that he'd survive this crazed night. He still hadn't gotten his Baymax back, nor did he find the boy yet. Shaking his head, he could only pray for the two and hope that they were out of trouble and in a better situation than he was.

Suddenly, something booming shook the entire arena and knocked the boy off of his feet. Some of the patrons who were hanging near the edge of the arena nearly fell into the ring, hanging for dear life as they attempted to get back up while the unfortunate ones fell into the pit. One of them fell into a pit filled with superheated metal, his cries of pains blocked off by the booming music and another got horribly scarred by various scrap metals of destroyed bots.

Looking at the carnage, the audience members only grew more furious and relentless as they started cheering louder than the music, becoming a torrent of curses and wet yelling! Their blood-lusts were becoming more and more insatiable.

I'm so screwed! The boy thought fearfully and looked around himself, hoping that none of them wanted to target him for their dark desires. He blushed a bit as a few girls tossed off their tops and started making out with each other.

Finally the booming stopped and the giant gates that led into the arena, where the large man sitting on the throne was, opened up. A gigantic samurai looking bot stepped out, it easily outclassed all of the other bots in weaponry and size. It had multiple guns across its chest, giant saber claws in each fist and there was a giant cannon on its backside.

"And now, for yours truly! Reigning champion and winner of the Draz Bot-Fights of Spectre Southeast...Master Yama and his Liiiiiittttllllleeeee YAMAAAAAAAAA!" The woman in the middle continued, not at all afraid of being squished by the large bot behind her.

If the crowd wasn't insane before, they were definitely now!

"Now time to end this world!" The woman raced towards the giant gates and banged on a gong before she disappeared behind their closing doors.

It was madness as all of the machines started racing at one another! Their heavy punches, kicks, and blades flying all over the place, creating huge red and yellow sparks that lit up the entire arena. It was just mindless action after another as each bots fell one by one.

After a few moments the boy felt his heart drop as he spotted something that he had never ever wanted to see in all of his life.

It was the hooded boy from before, standing much too close inside the ring with all of the bots fighting each other. The boy just stood there with his hands deep in the pockets of his jacket, acting all nonchalant and not mindful of the flying debris. One of the bot's head even fell at his foot but the boy didn't flinch at all.

"Hey! Hey kid!" He got up and tried to call out to the boy from up where he was but his voice was easily drowned out by all of the noise around him. It was obviously pointless but he had to try and get the other boy's attention! "Hey! KIIIIDDD!"

Most of the competitors were wiped out now.

Only six of them remained, five of which were surrounding the big one ironically referred to as 'Little Yama'. They decided to gang up on the champion, all of them charging at once. Two of them jumped at the samurai, tearing apart at his shoulders and ripping it off. The others were busy trying to knock it off its feet.

The crowd started cheering and jeering all at once. Some were booing at the unsportsman-like ganging while others were crying, "Die Yama, die!"

At first it looked like Little Yama was going to win when it smashed one of the bots into a million pieces in one fist slam but became quickly overwhelmed by the others.

Now the crowd was ecstatic and were all in unison crying for the champion's downfall.

The boy felt the urge to vomit at the horrible display of rough-housing. It was all just so...disgusting!

Suddenly, though, the champion bot turned into a ball, spinning madly before it jumped up and down. Blades shot out from all directions and spun like chainsaws, slicing and destroying the rest of the competition.

Everything became quiet before the crowd exploded in cheers and boos again!

"And Little Yama does it again!" The woman from before reappeared and raced around the bot.

The competitors groaned and each began to leave but then the hooded boy walked up and held up a small black bot, roughly the size of a large teddy bear. He waved it around and everyone grew silent.

"Not yet." The boy said softly yet somehow the crowd managed to hear him. "I'm still in."

The woman raced up to the boy with her hands on her hips.

"Rules were only one bot survives, kid! Don't play chicken! Isn't that right, folks?!" She looked up at the audience and shouted the last one at them. The crowd booed at the boy's cowardice in response but he didn't seem all that perturbed.

She proceeded to push roughly at his chest before she returned to her gong.

"Rematch folks, and we know it's gonna be short so don't glue yourself to your seats!"

Goung goung gung goung! She banged the gong.

The hooded boy merely placed the bot down before taking a few steps back.

"Kill." He muttered and smiled devilishly.

At first the bot did nothing as Little Yama got closer to it but all of the sudden, the smaller bot started growing as its smooth surface became more and more jagged until it became a large dog-like creature with laser sawblades trailing from the top of its head to its tail.

The man Yama, just laughed from where he sat and crossed his arms. Not at all impressed just as his Little Yama stomped on the dog bot and ended the match. It was so quick and powerful that there wasn't even an imprint of the canine left when Little Yama lifted its foot.

"I win." The boy said despite the crowd's reaction and Little Yama started shaking before its metal surfaces started to glow green with the glowing veins stretching all over its body. Within seconds, the large bot fell to its knees and crumpled into green dust.

A small mound appeared where its body disintegrated and the canine appeared, shaking its body like a dog would when wet before it deformed back into the smaller geometric shape.

"Now, I'll go ahead and take my winnings!" The hooded boy laughed as he got up to the speechless woman who took a little longer than necessary to pull out a few huge wads of cash.

He thanked her before he turned to a fuming red Yama and gave a small curt bow and a wink.

He disappeared behind one of the large gates with a skip in his beat.

Throughout all of it, the young boy in the audience could almost feel his lower jaw hit the hard pavement. That boy not only defeated such a menacing opponent but he even had the galls to mock a man obviously tied with the Yakuza in front of everyone!

He chewed his lower lips. He had to get down there and get to that boy before it was too late!

–

"Hey kid!" A large man roared as he walked quickly after a hooded boy. The boy gave a quick look back before darting ahead of the group of dangerous-looking men. "Get him! No one plays Yama!"

The henchmen ran after the boy, dodging random objects that were kicked down by the boy. He smirked under his hood turned back again to give two big middle fingers at the group chasing him.

"You morons! Don't let him get away or I'll have your throats!" Yama roared as his face turned into darker shades of red. One of the men crashed into a random bystander and another tripped and broke his face against the hard pavement floor.

The hooded boy ran into a narrow hallway and grinned to reveal a big gap between the upper part of his teeth. He took a second to pull out the wads of cash he had incurred and licked his thumb to brush through them. Due to his carelessness, however, he hadn't notice the exit opening and two large bouncers blocking his path until he ran into them headfirst.

The boy was knocked to his butt and his winnings fell to the ground, scattering everywhere.

"Owah!" He groaned and rubbed at the top of his head. Before he could get back up and gather his fallen items, he was picked up harshly by one of the men who were chasing him and was tossed into a trash can and table near the wall. "Gawah!" He cried out in pain when the sharp corner of the metal furniture stabbed him right in the spine.

"That teaches you to play me, ya little asshole!" Yama huffed and puffed, arriving in front of the fallen boy. Sweat ran down his forehead and down into his eyes but he didn't wipe it off. Instead, he bent forward to pull the boy up by the collar of his hoody. "You-You're gonna give me back my money plus a little extra for what you did to Little Yama and for the trouble you cost me!" He roared into the boy's face.

"Eewww! When was the last time you brushed your teeth, Yama?" The boy said, pinching his nose shut and made the large man even angrier.

"Why you–" Yama lifted him up by one hand and prepared to beat him into a bloody pulp with the other when someone came up from behind him and his gang.

"Wait! Please!" A young boy, slightly older than the boy in his grasp, called out with an extended palm. The cap-wearing boy bent over on his knees and was huffing and puffing. "T-That's my little brother! Don't hurt him!"

Yama smirked and tossed the hooded boy to the ground. He snapped his fingers and two of his men quickly grabbed the hooded boy, each holding him up by one of his arms.

"Oh? And what can you hope to offer me, boy? Your little brother here," he spat, looking back at the bruised boy before he turned to look back at the older boy. "Cost me a great deal in that fight." He reached over with a chubby hand and grabbed the older boy by his mouth and forced him to look up at him.

"Mmpmhp Mmhpp! Mhpp!" The boy mumbled from under his sweaty palm and he let go of him.

The boy gasped again and tried to stand back up.

"I-If you...If you hurt him, you have to go through me!" The boy breathed, clutching an arm around his chest.

Everyone stopped. It was silent.

Then, Yama and his gang started laughing at the incredulous threat.

"Ohahwhahahahah! Hahahaaha!" He roared, his belly shaking up and down from the reverberations going through his flesh. He bent down a bit and wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, that's funny!" Standing back up, he stood tall and rigid over the boy and a shadow cast over his face. "Do you have any idea who I am little boy?" A crooked grin stretched across his face from ear to ear.

"I'll just beat the two of you to bloody pulps and while I'm at it I can probably get a little money off of you on the black market." He added then licks his lips. "And maybe get a little something extra, too." He reached over and grabbed at the capped boy.

The boy's eyes widened at the motion and he briefly recalled the events prior the other night. He began to panic and involuntarily his muscles reacted before he could think and he bit at the fat hand that threatened to grab him again.

"You little asshole!" Yama roared, bringing his hand back before proceeding to slap the boy to the ground. "Fine, if that's how you want it, you and your brother will find yourselves in a new home. In the ground!"

The boy started groaning in pain and palmed his face. He chastised himself for not being able to come up with a better plan to help the younger boy. In the corner of his eyes he spotted the familiar endoskeleton of his bot, Baymax, wobbling up to him.

"I sense you are in distress, Tadashi." The bot chirped unhelpfully and patted its tiny limbs against his sore face. "On a scale of one to ten, what level would you rate your pain?" Baymax asked.

The boy smiled bitterly at finding his bot again before he reached out to grab it into a hug.

"Hey, Yama! You fat-ass!" The hooded boy started yelling, catching the fat man's attention who's nerves snapped at the comment. "Eat this!"

The boy twisted his shoulders a bit, getting himself loose from the two men before he turned and kneed one in the crotch and swung his leg in the air to kick the second in the face and into the wall. He jumped out of the reach of one of the men who reacted faster than his companions and ran at Yama, reaching into his jacket.

He did a front-flip and landed on Yama with his legs wrapped around his neck, and the two of them fell to the ground from the force. He began to pull out a sleek black dagger and jammed it into Yama's right eye with both hands.

"Hey!" Tadashi looked up to see a hand extend in front of him. "Hurry!" The hooded boy ordered, occasionally looking over his shoulder at the man he had stabbed earlier. He shook his head when the older boy took a few seconds longer than he would've liked to grab his hand.

"Let's get out of here!" And with that, everything became a blur as the two of them ran off together.