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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Mar 28, 2016 3:11:18 GMT
Normally, Elliot and Isaac would've been home by now. In fact, they really should've been making their way home. How were they supposed to know that today was the birthday of the Trailmon who founded this station? All of the train-like Digimon were currently arranged in a giant circle, a birthday cake haphazardly being lowered between them as a grey-eyed Trailmon wept tears of joy. Naturally, this meant the flow of traffic would slow down immensely as the trains had their birthday party, leading to a lot of congestion and frustration among Digimon that had places to be. Naturally, being very small and vulnerable, Elliot and Isaac chose not to get involved in the skirmishes happening between the lines. A Cyclonemon was bashing people out of the way with its giant forearm as it tried to force its way through the line, while a smaller Gatomon weaved through the legs of larger Champions. A gruff Monochromon locked horns with an antsy Unimon, the tiny blue police hat on its head the only side it was trying to keep order.
From atop a bench in Terminus proper Isaac watched the spectacle unfold, brow furrowing slightly in irritation. The lines were stretching outside of the station and into the city Beyond the rowdiest of incidents, it was actually annoyingly tame and boring. So many of Terminus' Digimon were content with grumbling in irritation about the mess of a situation going on, or politely waiting in line. "No luck yet, bro," he said, turning to Elliot. "Guess we picked a crap day to stick around too late, huh? Man, mom's gonna worry sick." He always had quick cover stories he texted Maia just in case, along with promises of a favor to be cashed in later. Looked like today, he was finally going to have to make good on that deal.
"We could just wait on line, right?" Elliot asked, worry in his voice. He did not want to get stuck in the Digital World, and he absolutely did not want to have to answer Mom Questions.
"You seeing this traffic? Watch, as soon as things clear up, they're all gonna squeeze in at once. And then we'd be stuck in a thousand-Digimon pileup for sure. I'd rather just sit and wait, then swoop in once the traffic jam's cleared up." Waiting and patience were not Isaac's strong suits, but when given the options of a bench or standing he knew which type of waiting he'd choose any day of the week.
And so the brothers stood, watching the line grow far faster than it shrunk and listening to the busy sounds of the city streets. |
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Post by darkblade on Mar 29, 2016 0:15:18 GMT
Oh, the joys of train delays!
Wait... no. That wasn't quite right. Yes, anything but: although the Trailmon were still somehow having their peaceful little birthday party, the rest of the station had descended into chaos. Irate monsters were rampaging through the line, Digimon were getting separated from other Digimon, benches were being overturned, and an Impmon was taking advantage of the situation by lighting whatever fluffy tail he could find in the station on fire. They were fighting to get to the front of a line, only to find that there was nowhere to go, and then getting run over by the people behind them. It was madness!
"... Only in the Digital World, can basic forms of transit cause national incident." Luke, watching a television report of this outside a shop window on a street-corner, shook his head at the whole thing. A short distance away, his partner, a mostly-white-furred wolf-man known as an Ankomon, gave a chuckle.
"Hey, not their fault that the station posted the birthday on the wrong week. And the trains have their own rights, so we'll just have to deal."
"Well... I can make some excuse for missing class tomorrow morning." Shrugging it off, Luke would step away from the wall. "Want to at least entertain ourselves with some of this chaos?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Well, might as well have some cathartic fun out of this. If only they had a camcorder, and whatever the Digital World version of Youtube was, they might be able to make a quick buck or two out of this. So, they walked on... not near the chaotic center, but closer to the end of the line, just to see how long the problem was. The wolf gave an impressed whistle, seeing it six blocks out: "Even if it starts to clear, that's... what, eight, nine hours? That ain't gonna peter down fast."
"Yeah... maybe we should find a room to- hey, careful!"
Distracted by all this, Iko didn't even notice, accidentally bumping against Elliot's side (well, presuming he couldn't hear them through the crowd). Blinking, the wolf looked down at the two, a blankly, clearly awkward expression in his eyes. "Er... kinda... in the middle of the road here..."
... Dammit, is it that hard to apologize, man?!
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Mar 29, 2016 6:47:16 GMT
"Sorry!"
The perennially-apologetic little brother blurted in surprise when this new, strange Digimon collided right into him. Unfortunately, due to the big difference in size between the two and Elliot's bad leg, the boy was sent sprawling down. Isaac snapped into action, hopping between the two and shooting an irritated glare at the wolf. "Would it kill you to watch where you're going?" he snapped, more out of concern for his brother than genuine hostility. He offered Elliot a hand, helping the boy up cautiously. Why did people always end up pulling that crud? Couldn't they see the walking stick?
"No, no, do not worry," Elliot said, dusting himself off worriedly. Why did things already have to be off to a bad start? He didn't even want to be involved in this silly train business to begin with, let alone get put in a shoving match at the tail end of the line by his brother's hotheadedness. "I am sure they did not mean any harm. I should have kept a better eye out. Are you okay?" Considering how the wolf looked to barely move compared to Elliot's fall, it almost seemed silly of the younger boy to ask. Despite that, establishing the Digimon's safety was still his first concern. Sometimes, Isaac wished his brother was better at little things called context clues.
Of course, with the lines being at a distinct level of not-moving, it seemed like the groups would be stuck with each other for the time being. If there was any good time to get introductions out of the way, now seemed to be it. "My name is Elliot. It is very nice to meet you!"
"And I am Isaac." The other boy was clearly reluctant, but they had a long day already. This was just another stress to toss onto the pile in his eyes, and while Elliot was a sweet-tired he was a bit of a cranky-tired. |
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Post by darkblade on Mar 30, 2016 0:11:12 GMT
Well, this was definitely awkward. That was Iko's thought, anyway, hearing the awkward apology from the young boy, and the almost coordinated snap from his... um, older brother, maybe? Not even able to get a word in edgewise, he was already helping the other human up, leaving Iko just awkwardly standing by. Part of him was tempted just to push past, and vanish a bit into the crowd. At least that would diffuse this confusing situation, and he wouldn't have to either be scolded or deal with either of these young ones.
In fact, if Elliot had managed to stay on his feet, both he and Luke would have likely done just that. And when Elliot finally addressed him, Iko gave a blink, and looked down. "All good here. So, nothing to worry 'bout, then?" Pointing his claw to walk past, Iko would have done just that... if not for a light punch in the back of his shoulder, by his partner.
Luke stood, at first with slight anger, but then with a calm smile on his face. "Now c'mon. I think you can say a little more than that, can't you?"
"... Tch..." Batting the hand away, the wolf gave a 'tsk', crossing his arms. "Right. Sorry I bumped into you. Now that that's over with-"
"Oh, forget him." Shaking his head, Luke stepped up, trying to diffuse this as best he could. "Sorry, he can be a bit of an idiot... good guy, I swear. You two alright?" With smiles and a helping hand, Luke hoped to just move past this, not wanting to add another explosion to this already chaotic night. Fortunately, it looked like Elliot was taking it in stride, and Isaac, as he just introduced himself, didn't seem too likely to go off on them.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Luke, and that over there is Iko." He looked over his shoulder, seeing the wolf give an almost dismissive wave in response. "S... so... what brings you guys out here? Know anything about why these trains are so far backed up-"
"Better question... where are your partners?" Iko snorted. "Doesn't seem like the best time to leave a couple of kiddos alone..."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Mar 30, 2016 1:22:15 GMT
"I am okay." Elliot looked down to check for any scrapes really quick. "Not a scratch on me!" Not there was much chance of injury. It was a pretty little fall, even for someone as frail as Elliot. Really, there wasn't much reason to worry about him! That didn't stop Isaac, of course, but then again nothing really dissuaded Isaac. The most Elliot could do was roll with it, and hope their adventures in the Digital World would lighten Isaac up any. Unfortunately, it only seemed to put him even more on the guard. Isn't life great like that?
How were they even going to explain their day? They raided the maintenance closet from hell in the Dark Area, almost got torn to shreds by teddy bears and traps, and barely escaped with their lives intact, only to be foiled by a birthday party traffic jam? It was a long, dangerous day that ended up withering into a slow, uneventful mess. Well, mostly uneventful. The Cyclomon from earlier was being led off of the premises, a confused Sealsdramon looking at it's incredibly mismatched arms and wondering what the heck sort of handcuffs it was going to require. Eventually it gave up, shackling a giant pair and tiny pair of handcuffs together before slapping them around the Cyclomon's wrists. There went the first casualty of the Trailmon Anniversary Ceremony. Who would be next? Still, if anything, it proved the pair's point. Without some form of self defense, the two would be liable to be stuck in sticky situations like that.
Thankfully, it wasn't the case. "He is," Elliot said, grinning cheerfully as he pointed. "We are spirit users, so we transform instead of having Digimon for partners. We are very tired, though, so I would rather not have to show that off." It was true. Today had been so draining, that they would likely pass out from exertion instead of actually finishing the transformation. Maybe if they pooled together their energy and fused they'd be capable of it, but even then it likely wouldn't last very long at all. Instead, Elliot simply hoped these new friends would take his word for it. |
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Post by darkblade on Mar 30, 2016 2:59:46 GMT
"S... spirit users, huh..." Well, that explained a lot... but didn't do a lot to quell Iko's concern. In fact, it probably only made the situation worse. Here they were, with two exhausted kids that likely wouldn't be able to defend themselves if the crowd got rowdy, apparently out of energy by Elliot's own admission. And they didn't even have a proper escort? If they had Digimon, Iko would have been fine just going on his way, but...
"Er, what's got you red in the face, there?" Turning to his partner, Luke gave a sigh. "Look, I know being friendly isn't your thing, but-"
"Tch." Iko glared down, not just at Luke, but at all three of them. "You got the one kid tripping over his own feet and another trying to look tough. What are they... eleven, twelve?" Iko wasn't that good at guessing human ages. "Either way, just look behind you. Or just open your ears. Yeah, it looks calm now, but all it takes is one crossed wire in a line this long - quite literally, sometimes - before you have an Andromon going critical in the streets. And you know this line isn't moving for hours!"
"Er... Iko? What's that got to do with-"
"My point is... you two." Iko turned his head to better look at the twins. "This guy's going to put you up for the night. Nice room in Terminus, and he'll even forge whatever note you gotta right for your dad or whatever."
"Iko, don't just..." Ugh. Giving a facepalm, Luke then chuckled, turning to the two once again. "I think he's just trying to apologize for earlier, but he has a point. He said the line's going to take something like four or six hours to clear up anyway, so why not just wait it out off the streets?"
"Out of the crossfire, you mean."
"... Damn it, wolf..."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Mar 30, 2016 5:00:35 GMT
Elliot blinked in confusion at the sudden reaction from the Digimon. He did a complete 180 from disinterest to concern, just because they said the words "spirit user". "Are you okay?" he found himself starting to ask, only to suddenly be cut off by a rush of excitability from the wolf. What could the boy do but sit there, stunned? Especially with the comment about his feet. That simply left Elliot furiously red in the face, looking down at his feet and trying his hardest not to feel like a burden for his bad leg. He had to admit, that was one aspect where Veemon's body felt more comfortable than his own. At least he didn't have to keep up with that hindrance as a spirit.
"Fifteen," Isaac interjected. Twelve? The hell? He didn't have that much of a babyface, did he? Jeez, how was a guy who looked twelve supposed to look handsome enough? "And my brother is thirteen," he quickly added, not wanting to undersell Elliot either. Sure, Elliot looked way more like a kid, or at least Isaac preferred to think that was the case, but now he was officially a teen. He doesn't make the rules, folks. That's just how it works. Still, his indignation turned into a mix of curiosity and suspicion upon the Digimon's suggestion being brought up. On one hand, it'd be really tempting to get his brother safe. On the other hand, was being whisked away by a mysterious stranger safe?
"So how do I know you're not trying to kidnap us?" Isaac asked, voice somewhat hardened. He was already on enough guard for them in Shibuya, so the idea of digital kidnappers here only contributed to his growing exhausted. "I mean, I'd love to get my bro out of this chaos, but I'm not just gonna walk off with random strangers. No offense." The Digimon seemed more genuinely concerned, while the human seemed a little more diplomatic about it, but he still figured wariness was the key to safety. He was already worried about not getting home in time for bed tonight. What if he wasn't going to get home ever, on account of some stranger snapping him up and walking away? |
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Post by darkblade on Mar 31, 2016 0:49:30 GMT
Well... Isaac had a point. Here they were, a big bad wolf and some unknown college kid, talking to two relative children and offering to take them off the streets. If anything, Luke was impressed by Isaac's foresight, as Iko shook his head, crossing his arms.
"Kid, if that's what I wanted, you'd already be halfway out of the city by now. But in case you can't tell, this is a crazy world filled with monsters... and you're better off learning to stick together with whatever allies you can find. There's a limit to how far you can go just by yourselves."
"Ain't that a little harsh, Iko?" Giving a sigh, Luke turned to face the two, a more neutral smile on his face. "Well. If he's that persistent, I'll get you guys a separate room, and you two can hold onto your own keys. That should help with most of the potential problems, right? Just don't lose em... even in this world, they're probably expensive to replace."
"Man. Bein' soft on 'em, aren't you?"
"Look whose talking. Big bad wolf couldn't take it when they said they were alone."
"H-hey! Ugh... last time I look out for one of you, then!" Flush red in the face, Iko turned, awkwardly looking away, scratching his back. He cared, really, but just pushed out his chest too much. That, and he really wasn't good working with anyone that naiive.
"Anyway... its up to you, really. But I wouldn't stay in line too long... last thing I'd want to do is get crammed between two Greymon."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Mar 31, 2016 1:18:11 GMT
Isaac hated to admit it, but the strangers were right. Normally in this world, Isaac had the power to fight for himself. In this situation, however, he was even more helpless than he was in the human world. Here he was a human among monsters, and judging by how many were getting on line a significantly higher amount of monsters than he'd ever had to deal with before. All the wolf needed to do was slug a Shellmon across the face to start a riot, and then he'd be halfway to the Dark Area with the boys in tow in no time. He glowered a little at the reminder of his own powerlessness, half wishing he could just morph back into Impmon and warp out of this situation.
However, the terms they were providing seemed fairly reasonable. A separate room was certainly very appealing, for instance. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck sitting at some stranger's bedside. But still-
"Okay," Elliot eventually said, breaking the silence. He turned to Isaac, somewhat concerned. "This could be our only shot of resting today," he added. "I mean, look at those bags under your eyes. You really need it. And you can't just do that on some random bench out here, right? You'll catch a cold. Or get trampled!"
Isaac rolled his eyes, but relented. At least these two seemed more reasonable than they originally did. "Alright, I'm in too," he said. He figured it'd be best to sleep with one eye open tonight, just in case, but he didn't say it outright. "What kinds of hotels are here, even?" |
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Post by darkblade on Mar 31, 2016 2:07:59 GMT
Ah, finally, a resolution! "Alright then... Iko? How are the rooms here?" Luke called out to his partner, whose ear twitched at the question. He turned, more composed, and gave a shrug: "Well, this is the closest city to the Human World, and we get a lot of travelers here. The rooms are pretty much designed around that respect... the beds might be a bit ridiculous, given that they have to hold dragons as well as people, but they'll do."
"Well... don't expect too much, then. C'mon, let's take it down the main road." Luke would gesture for them to follow with a casual thumb over his shoulder, then moving to follow behind the wolf. The sound of the line behind them would ebb away, reports of the chaos now coming through on major radio stations... perfect. If the report was just coming through now, they'd be barely ahead of the second line!
Well... maybe barely wasn't the best word. Behind a pair of Guardromon and a Sealsdramon and a Namimon, it still wouldn't take them that long to get to the front of this line.
...
"Oi! Thanks!"
And with the Nanimon squared away, a few minutes later, the four would be at the front of the line. A Lillymon, in rather professional attire, gave a bow to them. "Hello, and what can I do for you all?"
"Two rooms. Adjacent, if you can-"
"Ah, certainly. Staying for a while?"
"... Not really-"
"Sheesh." Already hearing Iko's patience drop off, Luke took a step forward: "Just the trains, ya'know?"
"Of course, I see... ah yes. Second floor, right side." As quick as that, four keys were produced: taking two in hand, Luke would offer the other two to Isaac. "We'll cover them when we check out, I guess?"
"That's fine. Thank you very much!"
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Mar 31, 2016 4:24:48 GMT
"Thank you very much!" Elliot chirped as the group walked away from the Lilymon. Isaac had passed the keys off to him after taking them. He may've been the older bro, but Elliot was the pro when it came to matters of organization. The boy promptly stuffed them in his pocket, patting it to make sure the key was firmly secured before moving on. "See, Isaac? This is great! Now we've got a place to stay, at least. Do you think mom is going to be worried about us, though?" It was a rhetorical question. Of course she was going to, and in a big way. What Elliot was really asking here was "how screwed are we going to be when we show up an entire day late?" They didn't even have an excuse, like the graveyard trip earlier this week, so they knew they were gonna be in big trouble.
"Oh, very," Isaac said, Elliot paling like he just lost a staring contest with a ghost. "But hey, if Maia's able to give us a good enough cover story, we'll be fine." He didn't know if he wanted to bring his other hunch up to Elliot. He had noticed that for the past few days, their mother seemed very spaced out. She barely paid attention to their entering or leaving, stayed up way later than she normally did, and seemed to wake up almost eerily early. Whenever they caught her in the house, she was either on the telephone or taking plenty of notes about something on the computer. Distant didn't even cover it. She was almost absent. For Digital World adventures, it was wonderful! It also got Isaac really, really worried. Any attempt at bringing it up was shut down by the ultimate Mom-bomb: "I'm fine. It's fine."
It didn't seem too fine to Isaac, frankly. He needed to distract himself. "Does it always get like this?" Isaac asked the older duo, motioning to the increasingly agitated streets below them. In a way, being up here made him all the more thankful that they weren't down there. It was hard to get a sense for how overwhelming the crowds were until he got a birds eye view capturing plenty of them.
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Post by darkblade on Apr 1, 2016 22:53:23 GMT
"Heh... to have those concerns..." Oh, the joys of being a college student. Although these two young'ns probably had very little excuse to get away with being in this world, Luke somewhat enjoyed the freedom and the creativity to explain missing a few classes. Heck, even making up a story about his roommate to get the dorm all to himself (so he wouldn't have to so pitifully hide Iko) was a bit of a hoot... though it did make him pay a lot of unexplained hush money to a very confused classmate.
That story was for another time, though. "Better safe and late than rushed and hurt, guys." Overhearing their conversation as he walked by, the wolf decided to impart a little advice: "And that's not just for getting home. This world, as you've probably seen, can get absolutely crazy. You two would do well just remembering to breathe."
It wouldn't take them long to make their way down the hall. Seeing the window out of the second floor as Isaac mentioned it, Iko gave a shrug. "Market street in high-time's just a hair less chaotic than this. Especially before the weekend. The food smugglers get back from the real world and the market is ripe with leeks, tomatos... all good stuff that you can't get over here. Normal for me, and most Champion Digimon... but for fleshbags like yourselves? Good luck."
"Tch... can't you be a little more tactful?"
"What? They wanted me to treat them like they were older." Giving a chuckle, and reaching their room, Iko gave a wave over his shoulder.
"Yeah, just knock if you need anything. Iko knows his way around."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 2, 2016 5:08:04 GMT
Elliot looked a little sad at the mentions of rioting, feuding, and bullying the weak. It was just food! Surely they could share, right? "Does it need to be so painful?" he asked, sorrowfully. "I mean, mom's the one who does the grocery shopping instead of us. But I know if I was doing it, I'd be happy to share what I had!"
"You can't just feed the world, Elliot. Especially now that there's two of them," Isaac said, raining on his brother's parade. Sometimes he was way too naive for his own good. These were the kinds of points Mathew likely meant when he talked about breaking the secret of Digimon existing, but would such a hasty course of action be a good idea? Sure, the Digimon can get tomatoes without any hassle. Wonderful. Shame there'd be at least five hundred worse problems arising that nobody'd ever see coming.
"Still, thank you very much for the help. I would say we could fight for ourselves, but it is not like we can right now," he admitted. He wished they hadn't been so tired, but defying death at the plushy, razor-bladed hands of a Porcupamon one time too many had really left him spent. He couldn't even tap into the power of his Sprite form with this much fatigue!
"What's it like getting so strong?" Isaac asked, curious. He had to admit, he was a little scared of the power getting to his head. As much as he loved protecting others with his new form, he couldn't help but feel the rush of it for other reasons too. |
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Post by darkblade on Apr 3, 2016 4:33:56 GMT
"And its not like it gets too out of hand, at least for our standards. We have our own way of doing things, is all." Piggy-backing on Issac's comment, Iko gave a shrug. Elliot's concern was cute, if a little misguided. If there was anything to be blamed, it was nothing but unfettered capitalism! "Besides, gives a few of our more sneaky Digimon some extra work. Not like we don't have enough food ourselves," Iko chuckled, "But its a bit of fun."
"Inter-dimensional thieving isn't exactly what I would call a night on the town, but whatever floats your boat." Luke's own joke earned a glare, and then a laugh from the wolf. "I guess, I guess!"
Still, that was hardly the issue here. With the two boys safe, and thanks given from Elliot, Iko merely gave a nod. They could be appreciative, but really, he just wanted to get his own sleep. These two would do fine: a little bit green under the hood, but-
"... Hm?"
What's it like to be strong? Iko's hand froze in front of the handle to his and Luke's room at that question, looking towards Isaac. The question seemed to be asked in a more curious, social tone, but it was clear Iko's reaction was far from that: an ear twitched, he just shook his head, collecting his thoughts.
"Er... I guess its-"
"Luke." Raising a hand for his tamer to back off for a moment, Iko sighed. "Isaac, right? Power isn't all roses or anything like that, at least in this world. The ability to transform comes from a response to a need, to break that initial barrier. With enough power and emotion, you break through to the next form, and the rush of power is one that impacts the mind. But because of this, power is the most terrifying thing to acquire in this world."
Luke blinked, then, after a moment, sighed himself. "He's right. Both of the times I've had Iko initially digivolve, to champion, then ultimate... both were out of pure anger and frustration at the situation. At least for tamers, there is no power without facing darkness."
"Granted. Don't know how spirits work, but power ain't all its cracked up to be." Was that a little off topic? Maybe. "But don't get me wrong. Its definitely more comfortable being my Champion than a darn little squirrel."
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Post by Elliot and Isaac Sunderland on Apr 3, 2016 6:01:25 GMT
Isaac had a feeling it wasn't all roses. The mysterious mask of Yasyamon hid the sheer glee he had while he was attacking that Andromon prototype. He wanted to tear that machine to shreds with nothing but the twin blades in his hands. How dare it get in his way? How dare it hurt him? How dare that whole facility keep him apart from the two people who meant the most to him in both worlds? Loathing was one thing. Isaac always knew what it was like to have it, even faintly on the back of his mind. But loathing, combined with the power to finally do something about his discontent? It was intoxicating, even when for all the right reasons.
"What if that need is still there?" Isaac asked, quietly. He seemed to be trying to keep his brother oblivious and out of the conversational loop, judging by how he slowly walked away from the other boy. "What if I don't want to fight, but I have to? I-" He paused, trying to think of what to say. How could he capture the feeling of uselessness he currently had, at being stuck as a passive onlooker unable to even transform? It was one thing to always be powerless, but another to taste it and now end up so weak.
"There's a lot of people I really care about here," Isaac eventually said. "Like my brother. Can I defend them without giving in? Can I still be strong for them? I want to make sure that when I fight for them, I'm fighting for the right reasons. Not just losing myself in the rush of it all." He remembered what started as a fight for his life quickly turning into a no-holds-barred beatdown, demon swordsman and prototype machine doing anything in their power to simply make each other hurt. Did Elliot have a similar problem when he first transformed? Their fights were so far apart. He had no way of knowing, only trusting that his brother was better than he was.
"How can I beat the darkness?" |
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