Chapter 15: Friends

HA!"

"YAA!"

"TAKE THIS!

Lars tried and tried, but he still couldn't break the wooden board. His water attacks were leaving marks on it, but they weren't strong enough to break it.

"Hmmmm?" Seymour said scratching his chin. "What happened to all that power? You should easily be able to break this board, the Shifter you punched is still in S.P.A medical."

Lars stopped attacking the board, breathing heavily.

"That attack took almost all of my ether… I don't want to use all of it just to break this board!" Lars said

"Hmm? Your telling me you don't have enough control to use just a portion of it?"

"I guess not…" Lars said dropping his head.

"Well, I'll give you some time alone…" Seymour said, waving his hand. "Hehe gotta fill out that report about yesterdays emergency event…"

Lars sat alone in the pool thinking about what he was doing wrong.

"The last time I hit Pb with that attack… I felt a power surging through me." He said out loud. "There was like a million strings attached to my hand, I concentrated those strings and then…"

"You focused them all into one target!"

"Hey Axel" A voice said from the water

"WHAT THE HELL MAN!" Lars shreiked.

The boy with the barcode had popped his head out of the water and was talking to him from inside of the pool.

"When the hell did you get here!"

"Me? I was always here I've been watching you this whole time! Do you want to be friends?" The boy asked.

"What do you mean do I want to be friends? I don't even know you!" Lars said.

The boy pouted as blue tears that looked like tiny ethereal flames poured out from his eyes. "So… you don't want to be my friend?" The boy said.

"That's… not what I'm saying" Lars said scratching his head.

"Well… if I help you break that board will you become my friend?" the boy asked.

"No" Lars said definitely.

"Why not!!!" The boy whimpered, once again filling his eyes with blue tears.

"Because", Lars said smiling, "When you want to be friends with someone you don't have to do something for them in return, you just become friends!"

"Does that mean we can become friends then! I'm so excited! I've never had a friend before!"

Lars hesitated, gritting his teeth together.

"I don't think I've ever had one before either… this is new to me too." Lars said.

"What are you talking about?" The boy cried. "You have tons of friends!"

"Oh yeh? Like Who?" Lars asked

"Reggie, B, Lance, Seymour and the general Grant! YOu also have your little sister! You have tons of friends all around you everwhere you go!"

"What… I don't think those are friends… there more like classmates, I don't even have their phone numbers!"

"Hmmm thats strange" The boy said.

"What?"

"I have the phone numbers of the school, the S.P.A and my favorite fast food restaurant, but I don't think any of those places or people are my friends." The boy said.

"Your right…" Lars said. "Maybe in this world… I'm not as alone as I think…"

"Soo…" the boy said twiddling his fingers. " Are we friends or what?"

"Friends" Lars said. " But first what's your name?"

" It's 619" 619 answered.

"Well 619 it's nice to meet you my name is…." Lars said pausing. He gave 619 an award look.

"What's wrong?" 619 asked.

"I don't know…. It's just... I can't be friends with you and call you 619... Do you have a real name?" Lars asked.

"If I do… I can't remember it." 619 said, dropping his head again.

"Hmmm. Well, how about well how about just 6 for short then?" Lars asked.

6 looked down at his hands examining them eagerly. It was like Lars had placed some kind of spell on him, transforming him into something else entirely.

"6… Short for 619… That's awesome! That's called a nickname right? I've read that's how friends address each other right… uhhh… Ax!?

"Yeh…" Lars said awkwardly. "Read that? Just what kind of place did he come from?" Lars wondered

"Alright then Ax!" 6 said winking, blowing a flame of blue light with his eye. It floated through the air like a balloon until it popped, disappearing into the ceiling.

"Forget about where he came from! What the heck is this guy?" Lars thought, marveling at the blue light.

"Let's go ahead and break that wooden board!"

6 approached the board with his hands out in front of it.

"When your channeling your ether how are you doing it?" 6 asked.

"I'm gathering all the strings in one place and striking!" Lars said.

"Strings? You mean ether strands? Or pathways? Then you should be breaking this no problem, exactly how many strings are you connecting?

"Well they don't really connect… they just kind of fall together…" Lars said.

"That's the problem!" 6 said. " Your joining all the small strings together at their end! You need to join them all together from their origin!" 6 said

"What? What do you mean? Isn't it my hand that's the origin"

" Exactly!" 6 said "So stop sending out a bunch of small strings! Focus the ether at the origin not the destination! Send out all the ether into one huge tube!"

"Ok" Lars said.

Meanwhile on the other side of the wall Colonel Grant was taking a walk down the hall.

"Sir!" Seymour said greeting him in the hallway.

"Ahh Simone!" Grant exclaimed. "How is the training of that kid going!"

"Much better , if he continues to fight like he did yesterday it won't be long before he becomes a captain at this point."

"Excellent!" Grant chuckled. "Maybe killing him was a bad idea!" Grant said scratching his head.

"Yeh, that would have been a lot of paperwork for me anyway!" Seymour laughed.

"BOOOOOM!"

A huge wave of water crashed through the wall soaking Grant and Seymour in water. The water poured down the halls, flooding the building as Grant and Seymour got drench.

"I've changed my mind!" Grant yelled "Im gonna kill that kid!"

"Agreed! I will start the paperwork now sir!" Seymour chimed.