Chapter 22 - The Shift in Power II

Dev made it far into the forest behind the building they all stayed in. Crozz arrived first and did not hesitate to look around for Dev. "It's just you and me right now, Dev. San has not made it here yet. Come out and let's talk about your stupidity one-on-one and see what we can do about it," Crozz yelled as she walked deeper into the forest. "I guess I could make an exception for you." Dev said as he came out from behind Crozz. "What we're you thinking about doing this?" Crozz asked, "I was simply tapping into my full potential, something the others never wanted me to do. And trust me, it feels amazing; my new friends helped me out on that. They told me it wasn't wrong and praised all I did. They were happy for me when I came into what I am now. And I have much more to go to fully be the best self I could be. That group you're in isn't worth it. They're just going to put you down, and they won't be happy for you when you become something powerful. So, you should just leave them while you can follow us we'll train you. You could be their demise." Dev told Crozz. "That is not true, and you know it. They cared for me and took Ash and me in. Ash and I haven't had a home for a while, and they took us in when I'm not going to ruin this just out of ego and pride. You could still apologize, and maybe they'll help you out. We can fix this." Crozz told him "Screw that, I don't care for any of that. I'm treated right with my new group, and that's all that I care for" "then that's where we have a problem, I guess because I'll do what I have to to protect them. I care for them all deeply now, and if that means you're going against us, then so be it" Crozz soon after punched Dev in the face causing him to fall to the ground. Her punch angered Dev, and he got up and lunged at Crozz, who was backed into a big tree, but before striking her was possible, a voice from up top on the tree was heard stopping Dev. "You don't want to fight her. You don't want to fight anyone. This is just you acting out impulsively. You feel at ease, don't you?" It was San trying to halt his attack on Crozz in attempting to manipulate his actions into calming down until they could figure out what to do. "Don't you feel a bit tired? You've been running from your problems for a bit, haven't you? Don't you feel like just taking a break and sitting down next to the tree behind you?" San said to Dev, who was now fully emerged into San's power. Dev agreed and took a seat next to the tree and started relaxing, all while Crozz decided to wrap a bunch of vines from an older tree around him, tying him with the tree. San snapped out of his power, allowing Dev to return to reality and notice where he was and what had happened. "Oh, you fucker." Dev said, looking at San angrily, "I really don't want to hurt you, and I don't think any of the others do, Dev. You became a friend to us, and I see no reason as to why or how you started thinking such horrid things about us." San said to Dev, "that is a bunch of bullshit, and I'm done trying to be molded into some shit I'm not. I'm fed up with how it is, and I will not change for anyone. If you don't like how I am too bad, I will continue being me, and you can live with it." Dev said, "Crozz, you stay here. I will see how the rest are doing and bring them back here to figure out what to do. This is best fit for David to handle, not us." San said and soon after ran into a shadow and left back to the rest of the group. "You know I like you the most out of the group, did you know that?" Dev asked, "No, I didn't, and I really don't care. The feeling isn't mutual. We could have gotten along maybe in the future if you didn't decide to pull this shit off." Crozz responded "well, why don't we try? Why don't you just come with us? This group is shit and is just hiding. It's weak, and you're not a weak person. You have much more potential than the others who are just wasting their shit on nothing." Dev kept trying. "I do not give a shit about that. I'll learn on my own I don't need you or your shit, so fuck off." Crozz replied "well, then you should at least learn how to tie things securely," Dev said, "what?" Before knowing it, Dev was up on his feet, kicking Crozz in the stomach and sending her flying back off the ledge they were on. Crozz was saved by Molly, who put a gentle force field down on the area where she was going to land. "DON'T DO THIS, DEV. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THIS!" David yelled out to Dev, "you wanna see what I'm better at? I'll show you; I'll show you all!" Dev responded back, and with that, he ran into the little town next to where they were; the town was an older one that was purely occupied by the elderly on their final days. Dev ran through the town, slaughtering half of the people there. When the group got to the town, blood was already spilled on the streets, and bodies just lay around in front of houses where you could see those who tried to run out but weren't fast enough to escape Dev's grasp. "What the hell!" Ash said in pure horror, "what has this guy done" Molly followed, "we have to stop him." David sternly said, "look for him immediately!" "You do not have to look for me. I'm right here." Dev said as he came out of the house dragging a man, "it appears you guys were a bit late to the party. Pity." Dev said while growing a bigger smirk, "this villain persona doesn't suit your shitty attitude." Len said, "I'm calling in Tommy to bring some artifacts that can neutralize him. He should be arriving in my helicopter soon" "Dev, before doing something absurd, let the guy go. He's an innocent person who doesn't deserve this." David said, "that takes away the fun of all this" Dev responded, "you want to know something" San interrupted, "it's kind of pathetic you have to do this. Like, what are you trying to prove by this, really? That you're better than everyone? Such a strong thing to do by messing with mortals. If you ask me, it is kind of a bitch move. I mean, it is just sad that you stoop so low to try to prove some dumb theory you have all because you cannot get your way. If you want to talk about real power, look at Ash. You took down three of your legion members on her own; now that is a power move". Dev did not take that so great, and with that, he let go of the man and chose a new target "fine. I will prove a point with you." Dev said, charging toward San. "I'm waiting." San responded back. Dev sped up, but with the fit of rage, he completely forgot there were more with him and did not take them into consideration. This was Sans's idea this whole time; he noticed that Dev had a weakness of not remembering that there are others around who will not tolerate crap. Ash was able to plan out what his tracks to get to San was going to be and directed Crozz to go first. Crozz slid into Dev's way and tripped him. Once Dev got back up, Crozz ran behind him to kick him in the back, causing him to fall again. She kept running around him, delivering hits here and there until Dev was able to notice her pattern and grab her and throw her to the wall of a house, causing her to knock out on impact. Ash directed Molly to start blocking off paths Dev was going to take to get him to crash into her force field walls. Molly had to get a bit closer to create fast and small wall blocks, which were successful and caused Dev to crash into them. Molly got in front of San and began putting more and more walls up and started to push them forward, causing them to send Dev back a few steps, but Dev was fast, too fast and Molly wasn't able to make more at the same speed that he was getting closer and soon enough Dev got ahold of Molly and a sting blow to her enough to where Molly wasn't able to stand up then kicked her out of the way. Ash pulled out her gun and shot Dev twice with the last light bullets, causing him to fall back a bit and jump up to the roof of a house to take out the bullets so that the burning would stop. He was going to get back down there to carry on his mission to get to San but heard some fluttering sounds begin to get closer and turned around to see it was Tommy, who was coming in on the helicopter he uses to drive Len around he was able to sense strong artifacts coming from his direction and knew they were going to try to use them on him. "You guys want to see one last thing before the finale?" Dev shouted to the group, "watch this. It blows you guys away, or more like blow-up someone away." with that, Dev grabbed a satellite dish from the roof and swung it in Tommy's direction. The dish went straight to the propeller and caused the helicopter to start going crazy while going straight down to the ground in the forest area. "NO!" Crozz cried out as it was the first thing she saw as she became conscious again, Crozz got up and ran straight to smoke, and Ash followed too. "My helicopter and pilot! You son of a bitch!" Len screamed in pure anger, "get over here, you bitch!" Len sucked Dev into a shadow and brought him down here and punched him so hard he fell back into a shadow; Len opened another shadow right on top of the one he fell in, causing Dev to go into an infinite loop into both shadow portals. Dev spent a few good minutes in there until he was able to use his last bit of strength to get out using his own shadow exit. Once out, he was exhausted and was on his knees, trying to stabilize himself as he was very disoriented and dizzy. But before that could happen, San came up to him and kneed him in the face making Dev fall completely down. "Since you like being unfair, I will do the same with my hits; I hope it felt good. You are a very predictable man, I hope you know; you got so focused on one person you forgot that the rest also exist in the same world as the one you are trying to attack, you forget they have my back, and ANYTHING you do comes back to me and bites you in the ass. Keep that in mind next time" Dev tried to get up and run and hide until he was stable again, but as he tried to get up, Len sank Dev's hands into the shadows and closed them so that his hands were stuck, and he could not get up. "Okay, that's enough, guys, stop it." David said, trying to end this feud "he's done bad things, but let's not stoop to his level and do the same it's not worth it." almost as if San was switched, he got on his knees and looked at Dev in a pitiful way "Dev what happened here? We did not want this, and this was not something we even expected. Why did you turn like that? Was it even worth it?" San asked in a concerned manner. Dev's look of rage and anger turned into a look of realization and sorrow. "I do not know. I was just angry that I was being held down, and when I had a taste of what I liked to do, I just could not help it. I was never raised with others around me telling me my rights and wrongs, and I am not used to it. I need help; I am sorry for all of this." Dev responded with a conflicted tone "this isn't okay, and what you have done calls for a charge that you now owe; your little friends will be found and taken back to legion headquarters and will pay for what they have done, they are looking for you now." Len said calmly looking down at Dev "as much as I don't like what you have done here, you're still a friend, and I don't wish for the punishment that you get back there on you, you have problems in your head, and that's not going to help that out back there either." San said, looking at Dev, "I need to find myself, and I need to work on myself" Dev said, "you do, and we want that for you too" San responded back, "we could send him to another dimension, one where he could be looked after and helped can't we David?" "I know of a few places that might take him in and will not report this to any branch; that might be a better idea for him; I agree with San you do not deserve the punishments back at your guy's place. We will head back to Lens place shortly and settle it all there. In the meantime, Len, go see if you can stop the fires with Molly from the helicopter, and I am sorry for your loss." David said, "Well, what's done is done; no changing that, I guess." Len said as she and Molly went into a shadow. "Now we wait for them and see what they could save." David said to San. "Oh my god!" Crozz yelled out in horror as she got to the crash scene to see the front part in flames and everything on the ground. "TOMMY!?"Crozz yelled out, trying to look for him. "Oh no!" Ash yelled out as she got there too. She took Crozz into her arms, knowing that Crozz was upset and trying to comfort her. "Crozz, I know this is hard, but we have to save the boxes; they have artifacts that we NEED to keep intact." Ash said while still hugging Crozz. Crozz just nodded, and they began to pick up the boxes that were in the helicopter and on the ground; none got damaged, surprisingly, and they were all still in good hands. "Woah, that fire is spreading fast." Len says, "Molly, you block off the part, and I'll start to circle the ground with the shadows so the first can spread from the ground." "On it, I'll go and start to suffocate little parts by boxing it in." Molly said as she ran to the other side that was in flames, it took them a good 20 minutes to stop it from spreading and having it die down in the enclosed area since there was no way of saving it anymore. The two were able to stop it from engulfing a good part of the forest. "Okay, that was a bit tougher than expected." Molly said as she came back to Ash and Crozz, "yea, no shit." Len said, walking back to them, all covered in black from the ashes. "I'm just glad we stopped it though it could have gotten worse than what it was when we stopped it." Molly said while wiping her legs off, "it's a bummer that my helicopter was destroyed and Tommy too, he was a great pilot, I'm sorry, Crozz." Len said, "it's fine; it just sucks," Crozz said in a tired voice "we better get going, you guys." Molly said as she patted Crozz on the back, Crozz just nodded, and they all started to walk away. "Wait, what's the over there?" Ash said while pointing to a figure coming closer to them from the trees. "I don't know." Molly said, squinting to try to look "stay back, whoever you are!" Len said, "we are warning you!". The figure continued to walk toward them. "Come out slowly!" Ash said as she brought out her gun and pointed it in its direction. The figure was coming closer, and soon it would be out of the trees and visible to them. The girls waited to see who it was and whether they needed to fight. The rustling grew louder and closer, and the figure was now close to coming out. Out of the trees came out an unexpected friend; it was Kit in his human form, and behind him was Tommy who was barely able to walk. "KIT!" The group yelled out "wha?" Kit responded, confused "you scared us, Kit!" Len yelled out "oh. Good for you." Kit responded, "I was on my way out here to throw my bowl to Dev then I saw Tommy leave on the helicopter, so I followed below then out of nowhere the helicopter just started spinning all crazy, and it started to throw out smoke, so I jumped in and took Tommy out, but the spinning made me disoriented, and we weren't able to land properly, and so that's why he's hurt" "what matters is that he's here." Crozz said very happily "about that" Tommy said wincing in pain "this made me realize that it is not a safe job for me, I almost died there, and there is much I still want to do before I die and that was a wake-up call for me. So, I am sorry, Len, but I cannot keep working for you; this job has started to become more dangerous by the day." "Well, if it is really what you want, then okay Tommy you can leave to enjoy your life. Here takes a little goodbye bonus for the troubles; this should last you until your next life." Len says as she pulls out a checkbook and writes the info on it and rips it out of the book to give to -hollow- "thanks Len I appreciate this" Tommy says "no problem, enjoy life bud. Kit, open a portal and send him to a hospital". Kit opens a portal for Tommy so that he can go. "So, this is it, huh?" Crozz asks "it's what's best for me, and the smartest option" Tommy responds "okay" Crozz says with a slight smile and waves to him farewell as Tommy walks into the portal. "Well, there's the end of that chapter" Len says with her arms crossed "I'm just happy he's alive" Crozz says content. "Well let's get going back to the other three" Molly says. They head back and find David and San standing idly by waiting with Dev still stuck in the ground between the two. "Okay you guys let's get going since we're all here now" David says "agreed" San follows "okay Molly we're going to need you to enclose Dev in a box where he can't leave" David says, "okay I'll do that right away" Molly answered "and Len you're going to have to release him after that's done" "if you insist, I guess" Len replied. The movement went swiftly, and they made their way back to Lens place, where they would settle the outcome. They made it to the top floor and had Dev trapped back into the ground as a precaution. Before anything, they were disrupted by screams of fear; it was from the three other legion members who were found. Big skeleton hands came out of the ground under each one of them, closed them inside, and dragged them into the ground; it looked as if the earth itself ate them alive. "They are being dealt with now." San says. While still looking out the window, Len was behind him, just nodding in terror. "Okay, that has been done; let's get back into the business. Dev, we have all discussed and agreed you need help. So, we will be sending you to a place out of the universe itself where you will be helped, and hopefully, one day you can come back to us and join us." David explained to Dev, "and we will be waiting for your return" San said to Dev, Dev just nodded and said nothing "there is something we have to do first though." San said while he walked away towards a desk with one of the boxes from the helicopter "this right here will ensure the safety of those where you will be going, we can't have any more rampages like this one" San said as he opened the box and picked up a gem from inside of it "this is a transfer gem, a powerful gem capable of taking one's powers from a holder and leaving them with their base power so that it could be redeveloped, it was used on those that couldn't control their powers before and I'm afraid this might be just what you need. But do not worry, they will help you develop your powers over there, but this time with control" San walked closer to Dev, "this might hurt just a bit" Dev did not respond or fight back. He just sat there quietly. San pointed the gem towards Dev, and the gem began to light up and create a little vortex that was starting to take out red strands from Dev. Dev just took deep breaths as it was happening. "Well, now that that's done, I guess it's time to have you get going to your new place for now." David said, "well until the next time, Dev." The rest said their goodbyes. Kit opened a portal to a bright sunny place and a big mansion bigger than a town. There were two people waiting for him right on the other side of the portal. Len released Dev, and Dev walked towards the portal, looked back, gave a soft smile to the group, and walked into the other side. That was all the group saw of him since Kit closed it as soon as they started to walk off with Dev. "One more thing," San said, "this gem can also do one more thing." he said as he went back to the desk and set the gem on it and grabbed a stapler, and began to slam it over the gem breaking it in two pieces "this gem can also be taken in and given the powers the gem has inside to its holders. That is why it was banned in many dimensions; people would build up powers and then add the ones in the gem to become outrageously powerful. I think there are two people here who deserve to have more powers since you know they are just mortals." San said as he walked up to Crozz and Ash "do you guys want some power?" He asked the two, the two just nodded in shock "okay then, this part hurts more. Are guys okay with that?" They once again just nodded back in silence "okay, here goes nothing, and sorry in advance" San went behind the two and raised his hands to the air. The rest in front just looked away and clenched their own teeth in anticipation knowing well what is coming next. "Okay" San says then quickly brings his hands back down stabbing the gem into both of their backs. The two just let out a loud gasp of shock, then began to glow as the gem released itself into them, becoming one with their nervous systems and attaching itself to their new holders. Once the glowing stopped, they both fell unconscious to the ground. "That went better than expected," Len said while nudging Crozz's leg with her foot "let us take them to their rooms." David told Molly, and Molly lifted them up in little platforms and took them to their rooms. "So now that Dev is gone, who will I throw bowl to?" Kit wondered; San just shrugged. Kit turned to look at Len and threw the stapler to her; Len grabbed it before it was able to hit her and turned to Kit with a mad expression and sank his legs into the ground and created two shadow portals on each side of him and threw the stapler into one making it come out of the other one and hitting Kit right on his face. Len and San just giggled and walked out.