"You wanna go next?"
Warren involuntarily flinched when he heard those words come out of Lucas' mouth. He swallowed hard, thinking seriously about whether he could beat Lucas or not.
"Oi, Vargas!"
Lucian, now standing right besides Warren, put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't let this punk intimidate you, I'm sure we could both take him if we work together"
"Ha!", laughed Lucas, "Leave it to a coward like you to resort to such tactics"
"Watch who the hell you're talking to, bastard!" Lucian retorted angrily. He then turned to the Becker sisters and asked, "What are you two waiting for? Flank him!"
The two sisters glanced at each other nervously, seemingly coming to a silent agreement. They both walked off to stand besides the Avatar.
"W-We'd rather not fight any of you guys", said one of them.
Her sister nodded and added, "Yeah. T-There will definitely be other opportunities to get some more good stuff"
Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise as this had been completely out of his expectations. His impression of the Becker's improved slightly and he made a mental note to pay them back for this gesture in the future.
Lucian clicked his tongue and muttered a few unsavory words under his breath.
'No matter' he thought to himself as he turned to look at Warren 'Vargas has always been the strongest amongst us. As long as I work with him, that book's as good as mine!'
"I shall step aside as well", Warren declared as he shrugged off Lucian's hand from his shoulder, leaving Lucian completely baffled.
Warren looked at Lucas and said, "We will soon be fighting side by side for the betterment of every human on earth in the future. I wouldn't want to sour our relationship so soon"
"Although it pains me to admit it, you do have the right to claim that codex for defeating the most enemies", said Warren sheepishly, "But I hope you will allow the rest of us to split the beast crystals amongst ourselves"
"Sure", said Lucas in agreement, thinking that it was more than fair for everyone now. His image of Warren had improved greatly as well because of his great foresight.
"And then there was one", Lucas taunted as he looked at Lucian, "What? Don't have the balls to fight me anymore now that you're all alone"
Although Caitlin tried to suppress it, she couldn't stop a snort of laughter from slipping out of her mouth when she heard Lucas' words. Lucian's face reddened in embarrassment and he clenched his fists so hard that he cut into his palms. He wanted to rip apart Lucas' smug face with his own hands but he knew for a fact that he didn't have the ability to do so currently.
'Just you wait, bastard' thought Lucian 'I'll show you what happens when you choose to screw with me!'
Seeing that everything had finally settled down, the Avatar said, "I think we shall end here for today. I shall prepare a little more challenges for you tomorrow to let out some of your frustrations. If it's any consolation, the codex is completely useless for you all right now"
"Wait what?" asked Warren in confusion, "Why's that?"
"Codexes can only be used once a user has gained a sufficient amount of mana in their bodies and has also picked a class for themselves", the Avatar explained, "Swordsman, Spearman, Archer, Mage, Brawler and so many others. These are some of the classes that you all shall have to choose in the near future. Only once you have picked your first class will you be able to tap into the power of the codexes"
"Well, I shall give you even more details tomorrow. I bid you farewell for now", said the Avatar.
"Wait!" said Caitlin as she pointed at Andre, who was still passed out on the floor, "What about my brother?"
The Avatar snapped it's fingers and Andre, along with two of the beast crystals, vanished from the spot.
"I have healed his wounds and transferred him to the Kaldwell residence", said the Avatar. Caitlin let out a sigh of relief, now assured that her brother was safe.
With everything now said and done, everyone else gathered up their things, collected their share of crystals and left the dome. Lucas was especially happy that the training session had gone so well and couldn't help but grin like a silly little kid.
Unbeknownst to him, he was in for quite a lot in the days to come.
°°°
Elsewhere, on one of the continents on the other side of the world, Warren emerged from one of the doors of the dome. Waiting for him on the other side was a whole vanguard of vehicles and security personnel led by a single young woman in a beige colored suit.
As soon as the woman saw Warren coming out of the dome, she bowed her head and greeted him, "Welcome back, young master"
"""Welcome back, young master!""" everyone else chorused.
Warren let out a helpless sigh as he said, "How many times do I have to tell you that I can walk back home on my own, Susan?"
The woman, Susan, simply smiled at him and said, "Your mother would scold me harshly if I were to ever allow that, young master"
"Right", Warren responded dryly as he and Susan got into one of the cars. As the cars started to drive off, Warren suddenly said, "Susan, I have a favor to ask you"
"Anything you wish, young master", answered Susan almost immediately, "What is it that you need?"
Warren sat up and stared out of the window, deep in thought as he recalled everything that had occurred today.
"Find out everything you can for me about Lucas Wilson"
°°°
BANG!
"Damn it!"
CRASH!
"Me?! He dared to treat me like that?! That filthy piece of trash!"
SMASH!
On yet another continent, Lucian was in his room throwing and tearing apart anything he could get his hands on. His personal butler, an old man with grey hair wearing a black tuxedo, stood by his door and watched as his master tore apart his own room.
'I wonder what could have gotten the young sir so ticked off' the butler wondered as he watched Lucian destroy a portrait on one of the walls.
"Huff…huff…Kensington…I want him dead", said Lucian, breathing heavily as he stared at his butler with a twisted maniacal look in his eyes, "I want Lucas Wilson ripped to shreds! And that girl he's always with too, the one from the Kaldwell family. I want them both dead!"
Kensington didn't even bat an eye at Lucian's words and simply bowed his head, "As you wish, young sir"
As someone who had been serving Lucian's family for years, he had already grown used to Lucian's twisted nature and mannerisms. He had done all sorts of dirty work for Lucian before and this was nothing different. For him, all he cared for was the satisfaction of his master regardless of what he had to do to make that possible.
'Blame yourself for your own ignorance, Lucas Wilson' thought Kensington as he got straight to work and started making the necessary arrangements.
°°°
Surprisingly enough, another conversation was being held about Lucas. This time in Lucas' own continent and city.
Two people in a sleek black limousine were having an argument. One of them was a young blond haired woman dressed in stylish clothing and expensive jewelry. The other person, was an older looking man dressed in military clothing.
"Come on, Daddy, why do I have to go see him again? I don't even like him", complained the young woman with a pout on her pretty face.
"Rose, I've already told you why a million times", sighed her father, "In a few days, the world is going to change drastically. Right now, the military may be running most of the things that go on in the world but once all the alien and magic nonsense begins, we will lose most of our influence. The Five Chosen Families will be the ones running the show from then onwards"
"That's why it's important to suck up to that Wilson boy", he continued, "It's good for both of us that he's already so smitten over you. The boy took one look at you and asked you to be his girlfriend"
Rose scoffed and flashed a confident smile as she said, "I mean of course he did. Why wouldn't he?"
Rose's father nodded in agreement, further inflating her ego as he said, "That's why it's important to keep him hooked and unable to say no to you"
"Alright, Daddy, I'll ask him to meet me somewhere tomorrow", Rose finally relented, much to her father's content.
°°°
"Achoo!" Lucas let out a sneeze, wiping his nose as he muttered, "Some bastards out there must be talking about me..."
"What?", asked Caitlin, who hadn't heard a thing that he had said.
"Nothing", said Lucas.
They'd been walking together for the past few minutes and had even dropped by the same coffee shop from before to grab some muffins. As he bit into his hot muffin, Lucas had to admit that for a coffee shop, the place had some pretty good muffins.
That's when he suddenly saw Caitlin staring at him and he asked, "What?"
Caitlin took a moment to answer before she said, "I don't know why, but you've changed"
"Huh?", asked Lucas in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know how to explain it", said Caitlin slowly as she studied his face, "You seem…older somehow, more mature. And you've grown stronger"
"Oh…right", said Lucas nervously, as he recalled that the old him had been more childish and way weaker than he was now. It wasn't like he could erase the somewhat cold personality he had built for himself from the future, so he thought he would just leave things as they were now.
"Do you…dislike it?", asked Lucas, curious to hear what she thought of him now.
Caitlin shook her head and said, "Doesn't matter if you've changed, you're still you"
Lucas' breath hitched in his throat for a second and his chest felt warmer for some reason. He couldn't help but smile, happy to see that she wouldn't treat him any differently. Shortly after, they arrived in front of Lucas' house.
"Right, I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning", Caitlin waved at him as she started to walk off.
However, when she felt Lucas' hand wrap around her wrist and pull her back, she looked at him and asked, "What are you doing?"
"It's Tuesday", said Lucas, which didn't really explain much so he continued, "Tyler usually makes tacos for dinner on Tuesdays, so you're staying for dinner"
"What? H-Hey, wait a moment!" Caitlin exclaimed as Lucas began pulling her towards the door, "It's already getting kinda late-"
"You can stay the night"
"Huh?! B-But I don't even have a change of clothes", Caitlin tried to protest again, whacking feebly at Lucas' hand.
"I'll lend you some of mine", Lucas countered, "You've worn some of my clothes before"
"As kids!", yelled Caitlin, her face now completely flushed in embarrassment.
"What difference does it make?", asked Lucas with a shrug before he pounced and picked her up as if she weighed nothing. Caitlin yelped in surprise and squirmed in his arms but Lucas held her firmly.
Eventually, Caitlin resigned herself to her fate and agreed to spend the night.
-------------
A/N: Well isn't that wholesome... :)
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