*sigh* One moment Bakugan Wiki says he's a 12 year old kid, next an 18 year old midget (wtf), and now a 14 year old midget.

He's a 15 year old midget to me, got it?

Oh, and excuse Lync's use of profanity for this chapter. Way not enough to make this M though.

"And may I ask where you were?"

Lync quickly stuck his tongue out to Volt and continued to trek into the room. By the signs of Mylene's constant scolding towards Shadow, it was a given that he had wandered around quite long enough to manage to actually miss the Vexos suffer another defeat to the Resistance.

Good. Wasn't like he wanted to make it back in time anyway.

Well, it's only a matter of time before we move on to the next city, he thought as he continued to aimlessly walk through the area.

"So you managed to make it back after all," Spectra snickered.

Annoyed by the masked Vexos, Lync quickly grumbled up an inaudible greeting and continued to walk away.

"Better go and report to the gay prince. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting on your failed mission report any longer."

Well, there's one thing they both agree on.

"And I'm not getting this thing fixed until next week?" Lync continued on with his rant, holding up the still damaged Ventus Altair up towards the ceiling. "Come on. Who the hell do they think I am?"

Tranced by his fit, he threw his Bakugan right towards the wall, damaging it even further, without a thought that the action may put him out of commission for a much longer time.

His head fell flat on to his bed as he began to aimlessly gaze at the ceiling. If the melancholy mood from his return hadn't bothered him quite enough, Hydron was there to give a scolding for his failed mission and even managed to find an excuse to delay his return to the brawling field. As one could tell, it hasn't exactly been a good day.

What bothered him the most though were the thoughts that were now entangling his head. His past, friend, family, change of heart. None of this had ever really bothered him before. Heck, he's never even thought about the friend he left behind since his early days in the Vexos. Why was it that just one trip to Earth had caused him to rethink his life from the past few years?

…And why is it now that the word "evil" is starting to truly reassemble his thoughts as well?

"Whatever," he grumbled. "I'll just get through the night, we'll reach a different city, and I'll just forget everything…"

…

He couldn't take much more of this.

1. His purpose was officially a lost cause. He wanted to gain the respect of others, but as a result, he's lost the respect of the people that mattered.

2. He basically threw his whole life away. He honestly just wanted to go see his best friend and family again.

3. None of the other Vexos like him anyway. It's not like he'll be missed.

4. This stupid group had officially made him evil.

A letter of resignation was the best he could think of.

Of course, with a direct approach, it would probably be either shoved to the side, mocked at, or completely denied. If he simply just left it somewhere, he'd lose the last scenario, but he'd still have to be burdened by the two left standing. It wouldn't matter to him though. Either way, he'd be free.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you bitches," Lync said to himself nonchalantly as he pulled out his pathetic attempt at a resignation letter and carelessly threw it on to a nearby table.

He made sure there was nothing left in the base that would ever show that a kid named Lync Volan had once inhabited it, but it honestly wasn't much of a challenge. He didn't really bring much with him to begin with. So as he finally left, all that was left of Lync Volan the Vexos was a lone, half-hearted resignation letter with the yet to be repaired Ventus Altair acting as a paperweight.

"So, what are we going to do about this little predicament?" Mylene already had to deal with a loss at the hands of the Resistance and the constant pestering of Shadow today. Now this?

"Well, this is a little troublesome," Hydron replied on screen, twirling his hair as usual.

"A little troublesome?" Mylene fumed. "We've already lost two of our cities to the Resistance! If the six of us together couldn't take down those brats, how are we supposed to fare with just five?"

"Clam down Mylene. We'll find a replacement."

"Find a replacement?" She screeched. "The Vexos were made up of the strongest brawlers of the planet. If Lync was that terrible, what good is a replacement gonna do?"

"It's unlike you to not be over thinking this," Hydron chuckled at Mylene's outburst, giving her a quizzical look. "You're worried about how good the replacement would be? I'd have expected you to pick up the predicament that we'd be put in thanks to his betrayal.

"Just think about. Why would anybody want to quit the Vexos?"

"Because they turned all goody-goody. Why else?"

"Exactly," Hydron continued, shifting his head a bit closer to the screen. "He's probably wanting to try to fight against our cause now, but think about it. He was part of the Vexos. You guys are all at celebrity level. It's no doubt that he'd have the right influence to gather others to fight against us."

"Great," Mylene sneered in rage. "Are you telling me that that little brat is going to be our demise?"

"Not to worry Mylene," the prince replied again as he laid back on his chair. The screen then shifted its image to not only host the video chat, but to also display a neatly made Wanted poster plastering Lync's face, accompanied with a fabricated description of why he'd need to be captured. "I made some preparations before each of you guys officially joined, you know, just in case a disagreement occurred." He chuckled again. "Funny, I was expecting the ones of Spectra and Gus to go up first. Anyway, with just a few button pressing, these posters will be sent to all the news and law enforcement stations in New Vestroia in the blink of an eye. We won't have to worry about Lync ever again."

"If that's so, why couldn't you have said so in the first place?" Mylene groaned.

"Well, you and Spectra are usually the thinkers over there and with your pitiful performance earlier today, I was just beginning to wonder if your worth to the team was dropping," he replied, causing Mylene to lightly snarl at the screen.

"Besides, I also thought it'd be good to show you what would happen if any of you ever decide to defy me."

Let's see, it's raining, I'm lost in some forest with no shelter, and I'm hungry. What to make of this situation now?

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

As the intense rain drops kept falling down, almost as if their goal was to shoot him down right there, Lync kept on running, scrambling to find anything. Anything! Food, shelter, a way out of the forest, it didn't matter. All he wanted was at least one thing to go his way.

The rain kept pouring in and if he was correct, a whole hour had went by since his escape to "freedom". Fatigue from starvation wouldn't hit him for a while, but the pain from the bullet-like rain had certainly damaged his inner stamina. He came to a halt, the speed of his short breaths matching his heartbeat. His eyes scanned the area frantically in search of something that could possibly act as shelter. A hollowed out tree? A cave? A log even?

…

Nothing but an unusually large leaf-like sprout.

Hey, it was better than nothing.

Groaning, he slowly marched on over to the pitiful shelter, praying that the leaf wouldn't break down from the rain during the night to leave him shelterless once again. The enormous leaf was sloped a bit to the right, managing to block off the raining that was blowing in from the opposite direction. It wouldn't help with keep his back, front, or left side dry, but at least his right was. It would have to do. Unfortunately, with the less than slightly sturdy stem having about an equal strength as a charred up twig, he was going to have to sleep sitting up tonight.

…

There was nothing but silence.

…

…But now, he was laughing. Not one full of humor, but full of self pity. He could only imagine what was going on back at the base at this moment. Hydron was probably cussing his tongue off that someone "dared to defy" him. Mylene would be annoyed that "that nuisance had just went and betrayed" them. Volt would probably try to make nothing of it. Spectra would probably just be chuckling at his actions, his real thoughts unreadable. Like Volt, Gus would also just brush it off. And Shadow? Well, his actions were always unpredictable, but one thing was certain: they'd all be wishing he was dead by the next morning or less.

He continued laughing. It just felt all too similar to yet another infamous night. He was unwanted and if he'd ever looked at any of their eyes again, he'd get the same readings as her.

Cold eyes.

Loath.

Hatred.

All he could do was laugh. As the fatigue gained from the marathon he ran began to exchange his last bits of energy to drowsiness, all he could do was laugh.

And as he stopped, he drifted away to sleep…