Matarra: Alit and Misael are in this chapter so Alit's happy although Misael is most definitely not.
Misael: Because it is WAAAY too embarrassing.
Matarra: Oh come on! It's funny!
Misael: You have read too many fanfics where I'm portrayed as a cross-dresser.
Matarra: I don't care what you think so on with the fic!
Misael: You %# #$
Matarra: WHAT did you just call me?! *eyes glow and takes a step forward*
Misael: Nothing, nothing, nothing. She doesn't own Yu-gi-oh Zexal, thank god.
Matarra: That's slightly better.
"So I got one D! Big deal!" Andre yelled at his dad.
"A 'D' doesn't help you get into a good college! And your highest grade was a B-! A 'B-'!" his dad screamed back.
"We've been over this! I want to do something exciting!" Andre shouted.
"Science is exciting!"
"To you, yeah! But I want to be an athlete or something! And it's a little early to be talking about college, Dad. I'm only 14!" Andre complained.
"It's never too early to think about your future! If I had a real son he would understand that!" his father snarled.
Andre paused as a look of shock came on his face. "Wha- what?!"
"You heard me. You're adopted. You never wondered how I was never married, but still had you? I found you in an orphanage when you were two and adopted you." his dad snapped.
"Guess you didn't choose the right kid then, huh? Since you don't like the one you chose, you can go back and choose another child. One who actually prefers his schoolwork to fun and games." Andre cried and ran out the door, slamming it with a loud bang.
"Wait, ANDRE!" Andre ignored his dad's screams and kept running with tears flowing freely down his face. 'I have nowhere to go... My life sucks. I guess I'll just keep running to nowhere. Why can't I go to that red place I dream about? Why can't it be more than just dreams?'
…...…...
Nasch, Merag, Dumon, and Vector stepped out of the portal in an alleyway in Naku. "Let's keep our eyes peeled for Misael, Alit, or Gilag." Nasch ordered. The other three nodded and started to leave the alley. They didn't get far before a crying boy ran into Dumon. They both fell over and crashed into a dumpster. Nasch and Merag winced while Vector laughed.
"Oof! Ugh." Dumon groaned as he straightened his obsequy glasses. It was about all he could say judging that the boy's knee was in his stomach. Now that the barians had a clear view of him, they felt a mixture of shock and relief to see Alit.
"Oh! S-sorry. I'll be going now." Alit got off Dumon.
"Wait, stay. What's the matter?" Merag asked.
Alit paused for a moment, apparently deciding whether to tell them or not before sighing and leaning back on the brick wall. "Well, my dad and I have these constant fights. Usually over my grades. He expects me to become a banker or a scientist like himself but I want to do something exciting and athletic. Anyway, today we had a really heated argument and he told me- he told me-" Alit gulped before continuing. "He told me I wasn't really his son. He told me I was adopted. Then I shouted that if he didn't like the one he picked, maybe he should choose another kid. I don't even remember running out the door I was so upset."
"Oh, A- um... what's your name?" Merag put her arms around Alit.
"Andre." Alit/Andre replied sniffling.
"Here, this might help." Merag handed him a card.
Andre brightened up a little. "I love duel monsters! What's this card do-" he tumbled forward gasping and Dumon and Merag caught him as he fell. It took him about two minutes before he calmed down and slowly, with the help of Dumon and Merag, stood up.
"Are you feeling okay, Alit?" Dumon asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. Great even!" Alit grinned and sprang up on the dumpster. "Now that I have my barian power back, I think I'm good to go! But what happened to us?"
"No idea. Some thing went wrong and we landed on earth as babies, well, more like toddlers actually with no memory. Vector, Merag, Dumon, and I all landed near the same place but the rest of you didn't." Nasch leaned back on the dumpster and put his hands in his pockets.
"So we're going to find Misael and Gilag? Awesome! Let's go!" Alit cheered. The other barians, excepting Vector who was still laughing like crazy, looked at each other.
"Don't you want to say goodbye to your adoptive family? You're not coming back, you know." Merag asked.
"Yeah I know but Dad will get over it. He'll probably even adopt another child who is some brainiac or something. After all," Alit began to sound bitter, "it would be the logical thing to do and he's big on acting on stats and whatnot. So, ready when you are!"
"Alit..." Merag whispered.
Nasch sighed. "If you don't want to say goodbye I'm not going to force you. Just know that you will not get another chance so if you want to come back later, you can't."
"I got that. Let's get Gilag and Misael!" Alit grinned.
Dumon felt a pang of pity for Alit. At least he had parents who, while they weren't usually home, respected him for who he was. Alit's dad insisted that Alit be a specific person. Nasch opened an overlay network to Cante and gestured to the others to follow. Alit grabbed Vector and Dumon's arms and dragged them through. Merag and Nasch followed.
…...
Alit landed on the grass feet first and ready to go but Dumon and Vector fell face first on the ground. "Oops, sorry!" Alit said sheepishly.
"It's fine, but please show some more common sense." Dumon spat out a piece of grass. He stood up and opened his mouth out of habit to smooth over some rough seas for when Misael makes a jab at Alit before remembering that Misael was still missing. He felt another pang in his heart at the other missing barians' absence before reminding himself that they would soon be back.
"Let's go, Misael or Gilag can't be far. They have to be somewhere. Everyone split up. If none of us have found Gilag or Misael after three hours, we'll meet back here." Nasch ordered. The five aliens each walked off in a different direction.
…...
Ella stared up at the sky and sighed. 'I hate my gender-warped parents.' he thought. Yeah, HE. His parents wanted to adopt a girl but there weren't any left at the orphanage, so they went with the next best thing: a boy who had long, blond hair like a girl. As long as he could remember, they only gave him dresses to wear, girly toys to play with, girly shows to watch, heck they even gave him a girl's name, in hopes that he would start to believe he WAS a girl. Thankfully for Ella, that didn't work although he was humiliated day in and day out. By everyone he came across, whether it came from taunts or looks; everyone detested him for something that wasn't his fault. 'There has to be something else I can do. I've tried talking to them about it, refusing to leave the house, trying to do something to get me grounded for life, burning the dresses, buying boy clothes with my allowance, even running away. None of them have worked. They don't listen to me when I complain, they shove me outside when I refuse to leave the house, they just take away TV and some of my toys when I act up, they just keep buying more dresses, they take away any clothes I buy, and I have never gotten far before the police catch me and take me back.' He squeezed his hands and thought of the dream he had last night. He had seen four people in cloaks standing at the base of a stairway that led up to a throne with two other people, one sitting on the throne and one standing beside it. He felt a wave of happiness at seeing them and walked up to the person wearing a light purple cloak. The figure shook his hand before hugging him. Ella had hugged back. The figure whispered that he missed him and referred to him as an old friend. Ella's heart soared. As far as he could remember, nobody ever even wanted to be near him much less be his friend. It was a shame that his Hello Kitty alarm clock woke him up after that. Ella closed his eyes and tried to relive the happy feeling he had in his dream.
"...Hi." Ella opened his eyes and stared at the gray-haired boy that was standing in front of him. "Can I sit with you?" Ella, surprised at the request, scooted over on the bench. The boy sat down and looked at him with a trace of sadness. "So... do you choose to wear a dress or..." the boy asked.
Ella sighed. There it was. "No, my parents make me wear them even though I don't want to." he waited for the boy to ridicule him or leave as everyone did after he answered that question.
"I see. Would you be okay with it if I asked you a few odd questions?" the boy straightened his glasses and looked at Ella.
Ella looked at the boy with a questioning gaze. "I... suppose."
"Alright first off, do you like dragons and/or the color red?" Ella blinked at the strange question.
"Both. I REALLY like dragons though. How did you know?" Ella asked suspiciously.
The boy gave a small smile. "It was a hunch. Second question, do you have any odd dreams?"
Ella narrowed his eyes. "Yes, though you're absolutely insane if you even think I will tell you about them." he waited for the boy to get offended and leave.
Instead, the boy smiled again. "Glad you're slightly like you were."
"What does that mean?!" Ella snapped. This boy was really creeping him out.
"You'll know in a second. Please forgive me for all the secrecy and questions, but trust me when I say you'll know everything in a little while." the boy rubbed the back of his head and looked truly sorry. "Anyhow, the next question is where I say a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind. Ready?" Ella nodded. "Okay, Tachyon."
"Dragon." Ella replied immediately. He looked confused. 'Why did I say that?' he wondered.
The grayette looked extremely satisfied with his answer. "Good, now here's the next one. Vector."
"A f*cking insane son of a..." he stopped and covered his mouth. He wasn't allowed to use profanity, but he just swore in public in front of a boy he barely knew.
"Language." The boy said like it was a habit. "Sorry, kinda programmed to say that. Anyway, last word. Barian."
"Sekai No Tame Ni." Ella put his hand over his mouth again as a look of incredulity came over his face. He had never before heard any of those words. "Who are you?" he whispered.
"You'll know in a moment. But I'm guessing you want different clothes first." the boy stood up.
"My parents don't let me keep any clothes that aren't dresses and I have no money." Ella muttered.
"No problem. Don't worry about your adoptive parents and I'll handle the cost. Stay here for five minutes. You can thank me later." the weird boy ran off. Ella paused for a second before yelling,
"HOW DID YOU KNOW I WAS ADOPTED?!" he got no response. Ella sighed and leaned back and waited. The boy was back four minutes later with a T-shirt and jeans.
"These'll do for now. You can change in that outhouse." the gray-eyed boy shoved the clothes at Ella. Ella took them and quickly changed. As he walked out the door, he saw the boy holding a card.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Something that's soon to be yours. I apologize again for being so cryptic and prying into your life, but I did it because if I asked later you would have a much larger audience after your outburst." the boy said.
Ok, now this kid was getting scary. "Why would I have an outburst? WHO ARE YOU?!"
"I swear, you will know in a second. Just promise me you won't swear much or yell." the boy begged.
Ella was about to say he never swore but realized how stupid that would be considering he just did that a few minutes before. "Fine, but you better have a good explanation for who you are and how you know so much about my interests."
"I don't need to explain." the boy handed him the card. Ella looked at it.
"What do you-" Ella started before falling and kneeling on the ground. He breathed heavily for a minute while images flashed through his head before standing up and leaning on Dumon.
"You okay?" Dumon asked.
Ella/Misael panted, "Yeah, fine." before blushing bright red. "Oh my... WHOEVER CAUSED THIS IS GOING TO PAY! I WILL FEED THEM TO TACHYON!"
Dumon winced. "I thought you promised not to shout."
Misael looked apologetic. "Sorry, Dumon. I just..." he punched a tree and made a crater-like hole in it. "Somebody is going to die." Misael snarled and his eyes glowed.
"No problem. I would be furious too if my adoptive parents forced me to cross-dress." Dumon said.
Misael froze and looked at Dumon. "You're not going to mention that to the others, are you?"
Dumon gave a coy smile. "Of course not. You know me. The official story is that I found you and returned your memory. Short and sweet. None of the others need to know the exact details and all I'll mention to Nasch is that your family life was pretty bad and you don't want it to be shared."
"Thanks." Misael said, relieved.
"No problem. Hold on a second." Dumon's baria lapis glowed and he brought it up near his lips. "I found Misael. He remembers everything now and I'm pretty sure he does not want to say goodbye to his family." Dumon glanced at Misael.
"No I do not. If I see them again I will-" Dumon held up a hand.
"I don't want to hear any threats just yet today. Let's get Gilag before we start making threats on people's lives." Dumon scolded. He turned his attention back to his baria lapis. "Anyhow, we're headed to Zorron. Meet you there." Dumon cut the transmission and looked at Misael.
"Just Gilag left now, let's go get him." Dumon opened an overlay network and the two emperors jumped through.