Chapter 5: Pb&J

"Hey Pb, Who's Jin?" The tall thin boy standing next to the one pinning Lars down asked.

"I don't know Jeff" Said the boy with the big hands. "But whoever he is, he's not gonna save Axel now!"

The boy's rotten expression was warped into a coy smile as he pinned Lars against the concrete wall.

"What the hell is this! This guy looks and sounds exactly like Jin! What's going on?"

"So where are you hurrying off too huh buddy? Are you going to blow our minds again with your spittle again?"

"Spitting up a lugy? What are you a retard?" Jeff mockingly said.

"Damn it!" Lars thought. "Was Axel such a loser that he couldn't even manipulate other water sources other than his own!"

Pb laughed. "Hey Axel what do retards sound like?" mocked Pb tightening his grip on LArs's sweatshirt.

"Whoever this guy is he's insanely strong! I can't even budge his arms! How is the difference in strength between us that large?"

"Hey" PB said as he grabbed Lars by the neck and slammed him into the wall again. "I said make retard sounds!" he said firmly. With those words little dots began to pop up on the surface of Pb's face. They quickly began to multiply in succession, slowly turning his skin pigment into a greyish tint of black.

"What the hell! Is that some kind of metal alloy forming on his face!" Lars thought. "Is that Lead! Damnit! I understand his name now!"

"P…..B" Lars groaned as he started to lose breath

"So my name sounds retarted?" Pb yelled

Wham!

PB hit Lars with a devastating blow to the stomach sending him tumbling to the ground as he gasped for air.

"Trash! Who the hell do you think you are!" Pb screamed at Lars

"Ugh!" Lars groaned

He started stepping on Lars's chest as his leg slowly turned into metal.

"Ehhhh" Lars squirmed, fighting for air as PB's huge legged began to increase in weight. The force on his chest kept growing, stifling his breath until it was barely a wheeze.

"You good for nothing piece of shit!" Pb said kicking Larsin the gut

"GFFF" Lars sputtered out...

"Hahahaha Yes! Yes! Now we're getting there! You think you're so cool don't you!" Pb said slowly, turning his body into metal. His eyes flashed with rage as the lead spread through his face.

"Always talking big about becoming a colonel! Well as for now your just trash!"

"Ughh!" Lars gasped as Pb once again hammered a kick into his side.

"Your number 250 in the class!

"Please…. Stop" Lars pleaded as Pb hammered in another kick.

"You're nothing but trash! You little Shit! You think you can call out my name! I said make retard sounds!" Pb yelled

PB reached his hand back, fully transforming it into lead. The huge black arm hung over LArs , ready to bash into his skull.

"If you don't start making sounds! I'll turn you into a retard myself!" He yelled

"No..." Lars said barely maintaining his strength. "I may be weak, I may be a loser... But I won't be forever!" Lars yelled. "One day I'm going to become stronger! One day I'll become a Colonel in the SPA! No General! And then I'll make sure people like you can't bully anyone else!" Lars yelled.

"I'll kill you first! Loser!" Pb yelled, slamming down his fist.

Lars closed his eyes preparing for the attack.

"What the?"

After a few moments he slowly opened them, looking up at someone holding PB's punch back. A boy with green hair had caught Pb's fist and was forcing him back.

"Lance what are you doing here?" PB said stumbling over himself.

Lance said nothing, viciously glaring at PB without as much as a blink.

"Damnit!" Pb said backing down. "Jeff lets get out of here!"

Lars looked up at his protector in awe, completely amazed.

You got lucky this time!" Pb said walking away "Next time your dead meat!"

Lars struggled to his feet looking at the boy in astonishment.

"I've never even spoken to him before… why… why did he save me?" Lars thought

"Thank y-"

"No need to thank me loser" Lance said, cutting him off "Honestly, I agree with Pb you should get the hell out of this school"

"Then why why did you save me?" Lars answered

"Because... Even if you are a loser" Lance said building up a current of wind. "Even a loser… deserves to live"

Lance and Lars, locked eyes for a moment in a cold silence. And in the next moment Lance was gone. Just as quickly as he had come.

"What is his relationship with Axel?" Lars thought

Lars leaned onto the side of the dugout, fatigued and out of breath. Looking down at his watch he checked the time.

"13:97 just 3 minutes until the presentation... I've got to get moving" Lars said walking forward.

"This Axel kid... he's really unpopular... just like me, if we had ever got the chance to meet, I'm sure we would have been friends. But still, I can't shake the feeling... Why did that PB kid look so much like Jin?"

Catching his breath, Lars let out one last long breath before making his way to the field.

"...."

"WHAT THE!" Lars screamed.

A rush of heat trickled up his spine, giving him the presence of something huge right behind him. Sporadically spinning around he got ready to intercept the force.

"There's no way, I felt someone right behind me" Lars said

Strangely enough, he found nothing occupying the space between him and the gym door. He continued to spin, looking up at the trees and then to the rocks surrounding the school, but inevitably found nothing there.

"What are you losing your mind now?" he laughed as he turned to continue his journey.

It wasn't more than 2 steps before he felt the same presence again. He spun around expecting to encounter the force, but couldn't see anything behind him that had changed. Lars anxiously whipped his head around, trying to find the source of the persistent rubbernecking. Someone, somewhere, was watching him, and whoever they were, they were watching him intently.

"619, you really shouldn't stare at people like that" said a man in the distance.

"But…. he's the same as me" a teenage boy answered in response.

A man and a young boy stood 80 feet in the air, atop of the school's flag post far from Lars's view. They were standing back to back on the small spherical finial at the end of the pole whispering to each other.

"Interesting, is that so", the man laughed. "Then would you care to meet him? Maybe you two could foster a friendship of some sort."

"I'd like that very much!" The boy said gleefully closing his eyes and pumping his fists.

"Remember the promise you made to me if I find you a friend."

"I promise," the boy said sincerely. "I promise once you help me find a friend, I'll help you find the friend that you lost…But….. You have to make sure we're really friends first!" The boy exclaimed

"And how will we know that?" The man asked

"I read somewhere that friends have secret handshakes, so… as soon as that happens!" The boy said eagerly.

"Good", said the man happily, "I promise to make you friends, but you mustn't use your powers, no matter what!" The man said waving his finger

"Why not?"

"Are you forgetting 619? What happened to all your other friends at the facility? There are few who can see your power without being filled with terror."

The boy looked down at his hands as they sparkled with blue light. After admiring them the light slowly began to fade returning them to their normal state.

"If it's what I have to do to find a friend… I'll do it no matter the cost!" He said diligently.

"Good" said O'Brian smiling, "Now why don't we introduce ourselves to your... friend?"

"Awesome!" The boy said, taking off in Lars's direction.

"EHEM" said the man grabbing the boy mid jump.

"I will do the introductions." The man said, taking lead.

"Let's have a little fun now, shall we?" He said with a grin "Before we show him the magnificence of this world let's first show him a little chaos"